Fifty-six years. That's how long it would take if the one dozen companies the Indian central bank is pushing into bankruptcy were to repay creditors by handing over their entire current operating income, Bloomberg News reported. For India's capital-starved commercial lenders, at the receiving end of much of this $37 billion of unpaid debt, waiting for even 56 days without a resolution isn't an option. Hence the nuclear strike against errant borrowers. The Reserve Bank of India has used authority it received only last month to identify 12 large corporate accounts for action.

Just days after Noble Group Ltd. secured a $2 billion loan extension, some investors in the credit protection market are looking to get paid. The International Swaps & Derivatives Association has been asked to decide whether a four-month loan extension from the Hong Kong-based company’s banks constitutes a so-called restructuring credit event, Bloomberg News reported. An anonymous party filed a petition on Monday asking the determinations committee to consider the question, which could mean payouts for holders of credit-default swaps on almost $5 billion of company debt.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (Isda) will meet on Thursday to decide whether an extension of one of Noble Group’s loan facilities will trigger a payout on credit-default swaps (CDS) linked to the struggling commodities trader, the Financial Times reported. The “general interest question” was submitted on Monday and the derivatives trade body accepted it for review by one of its determinations committees on Tuesday.

Takata Corp. fell by its daily limit after the embattled airbag maker was said to be planning to file for bankruptcy, paving the way for a sale of the 84-year-old Japanese company behind the biggest safety recall in automotive history, Bloomberg News reported. Shares of Takata declined 17 percent, the most since April 27, at the end of trading Monday in Tokyo after going untraded through the regular session as orders to sell outnumbered buyers. The stock has plunged 53 percent this year. The supplier is expected to seek protection in its home country first, with its U.S.

When Azerbaijan’s biggest bank wanted to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from funds in neighboring Kazakhstan, it headed 2,700 miles in the opposite direction to Ireland, Bloomberg News reported. The International Bank of Azerbaijan, or IBA, used obscure Dublin-based entities to sell bonds that were bought by state-linked funds in Kazakhstan about three years ago. Now, the Baku-based lender has defaulted and its long-time chief executive officer is in jail for embezzlement, while a $22 billion national pension fund across the Caspian Sea in Almaty is probing its investment in the debts.

Lanco Infratech Ltd confirmed on Saturday that India's central bank had directed the company's lead lender IDBI Bank to initiate a corporate insolvency resolution process under the country's bankruptcy laws, Reuters reported. Lanco is among 12 companies that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has ordered lenders to take to bankruptcy court as it strives to cut the country's $150 billion in soured debt, sources told Reuters on Friday.

India's central bank has asked lenders to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against a dozen companies, including Essar Steel, Bhushan Steel Ltd, Monnet Ispat and Energy Ltd, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. This follows a change enacted in laws last month that gives the Reserve Bank of India greater power to address the $150 billion stressed loan problem plaguing growth in Asia's third-largest economy, Reuters reported. This week, the RBI said it had identified 12 of the country's biggest loan defaulters.

India’s central bank plans to use insolvency laws against more corporate defaulters to speed up resolution of the country’s bad loans that have swelled to $180 billion, Bloomberg News reported. “The clock’s already ticking -- some cases are already before the National Company Law Tribune," said Sanjeev Sanyal, principal economic adviser to the finance ministry. "More lists will be out in the next few months." Cleaning up India’s stressed loans is the biggest priority of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, Sanyal said in an interview in New Delhi.

The Reserve Bank of India aims to stop loan officers from throwing good money after bad. This week, 12 unnamed Indian companies were recommended for referral to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, the Financial Times reported. The upshot is likely to be outperformance by shares in private sector banks with consumer credit exposure. The government push could lead to long workouts for debts amounting to a quarter of all non-performing assets nationally. State-owned banks’ provision levels are likely to be revealed as insufficient.

Takata Corp, the Japanese company facing billions in liabilities stemming from its defective air bag inflators, is preparing to file for bankruptcy as early as next week as it works toward a deal for financial backing from U.S. auto parts maker Key Safety Systems Inc, sources said on Thursday. Takata, one of the world's biggest automotive suppliers, has been working for months to complete a deal with Key Safety, Reuters reported. A person briefed on the matter told Reuters Key was expected to acquire Takata assets as part of a restructuring in bankruptcy.