Household spending in Japan shrank for the second straight month in March, adding to the case that private consumption may have contracted in the first quarter, the Financial Times reported. Spending fell 0.7 per cent year on year in the third month of 2018, with growth of 0.1 per cent in February revised to a fall of 0.9 per cent. The latest reading also ran counter to expectations, with a median estimate from economists polled by Reuters predicting a rise of 1.1 per cent.

India’s Lanco Infratech Ltd said on Thursday a panel of its creditors has not approved an insolvency resolution plan and that its administrator will file for potential liquidation of the company, Reuters reported. Lanco, among 12 of the biggest debt defaulters in India that were pushed to bankruptcy court last year, said in a stock exchange filing bit.ly/2jncWQC that a debt resolution proposal from Thriveni Earthmovers Pvt Ltd had failed to get the minimum 75 percent creditors' vote required for it to get the go ahead before the deadline expires on Friday.

Hindustan Construction Ltd. is headed for its lowest close since June 2016 after its unit Lavasa Corp Ltd. defaulted on repayment to bondholders, Bloomberg News reported. The stock declined 16 percent as of 11:51 a.m. in Mumbai, paring an earlier drop of as much as 24 percent, making it the biggest loser on the S&P BSE 500 Index. The shares have slumped 53 percent this year compared with a 2.9 percent gain for the benchmark Sensex Index.

Binani Cement Ltd.’s committee of creditors were today directed by the National Company Law Tribunal to consider a revised offer from UltraTech Cement Ltd, Bloomberg Quint reported. The Kolkata bench of the NCLT asked UltraTech to place a fresh bid before Binani Cement’s resolution professional in three days and extended the resolution process till June 24. The 270-day period for Binani Cement’s insolvency process would have ended in April, had the NCLT not provided this extension. The tribunal also allowed Dalmia Group to match UltraTech’s revised offer, if it so chooses.

General Motors’ planned $3.6 billion cash infusion to rescue its South Korean business will be in the form of loans, while Korea Development Bank (KDB) will receive preference shares for its $750 million investment in GM Korea, two sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The Detroit carmaker and state-run KDB agreed last week on $7.15 billion of investment, including a $2.8 billion debt-for-equity swap for existing loans GM Korea owed to its parent, Reuters reported.

The committee of creditors of bankrupt Essar Steel Ltd. today discussed eligibility issues with Numetal and ArcelorMittal for bidding for the 10-million steel mill at Hazira, people familiar with the development said. These companies were given time till May 1 by the lenders to give then in writing that they were fit to bid, Bloomberg Quint reported. “The CoC had given them time till Tuesday evening to submit in writing why they are eligible to bid. Today, both the companies gave presentation to the CoC on their eligibility,” said a banker.

In the event of a shock to China’s economy, problems are likely to emanate from a set of small banks with poor financials and a loan book exposure to China’s weakest provincial economies, the Financial Times reported in a commentary. In the wake of the global financial crisis, China saw an explosion not only in the level of debt in the economy, but also in the development of complex and opaque shadow banking structures.

In an unexpected move, Standard & Poor’s cut its sovereign debt rating on Turkey further into junk territory on Tuesday, citing widening concern about the outlook for inflation amid a sell-off in the Turkish lira currency, Reuters reported. S&P said the ratings decision, cutting Turkey to “BB-/B” from “BB/B,” was not part of its regularly scheduled reviews, reflecting what it said were growing concerns. “The downgrade reflects our concerns over a deteriorating inflation outlook and the long-term depreciation and volatility of Turkey’s exchange rate,” S&P said in a statement.

The observations and conclusions in the Essar Steel Ltd. and Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd. insolvency cases are likely to impact the insolvency process considerably, Bloomberg Quint reported. The Delhi and Ahmedabad benches of the National Company Law Tribunal have pointed out lapses in the process carried out by the resolution professionals and the committee of creditors. On those grounds, the NCLT allowed Numetal and ArcelorMittal’s bid to be considered for Essar Steel and Liberty House’s bid for Bhushan Power.

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has invited comments from public on the broad range of regulations it has already notified under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), as it seeks to ‘crowdsource’ ideas to further strengthen the ecosystem. The comments from the stakeholders, received between April 30 and December 31, will be processed together and following the due process, regulations will be amended to the extent considered necessary, the IBBI said.