Asia Pacific

India’s economy grew at a slower pace last quarter than expected, with risks to the outlook mounting and pressure building on the central bank to cut interest rates, Bloomberg News reported. Gross domestic product rose 6.7% in the three months to June from a year earlier, the Statistics Ministry said Friday — the slowest pace in five quarters and below the central bank’s projection of 7.1% for the period. Growth weakened from 7.8% in the January-March quarter.

Some Russian companies are facing growing delays and rising costs on payments with trading partners in China, leaving transactions worth tens of billions of yuan in limbo, Russian sources with direct knowledge of the issue told Reuters. Russian companies and officials for a few months have pointed to delays in transactions after Chinese banks tightened compliance following Western threats of secondary sanctions for dealing with Russia. The sources said the problem has intensified this month.

A Hong Kong court on Wednesday dismissed a petition to liquidate Chinese education firm XJ International Holdings Co., dealing a blow to a group of bondholders that includes some of Asia’s most prominent hedge funds, Bloomberg News reported. Deputy High Court Judge Doreen Le Pichon threw out the wind-up petition on technical grounds, saying that XJ had shown there is a dispute that a put option hadn’t been properly exercised, according to a judgment dated Aug. 28 posted on the judiciary’s website.

South Korea’s financial market regulator has asked lenders with exposure to troubled real estate project finance loans to finalize their cleanup plans by Sept. 6, setting a tight deadline after growth in risky loans exceeded the regulator’s previous estimates, Bloomberg News reported. Project finance exposure of all financial institutions stood at 216.5 trillion won ($162 billion) as of June 2024, of which at least 21 trillion won, or 9.7%, was risky, the Financial Supervisory Service, the Korean financial watchdog, said on Thursday.

The electric vehicle unit of embattled real estate developer China Evergrande said on Tuesday it expected to report a bigger loss for the first half of 2024, reflecting an increase in provision for impairments, Reuters reported. China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle estimated a consolidated net loss of about 20.25 billion yuan ($2.84 billion) for the six months ended June 30, compared with 6.87 billion yuan in the same period a year earlier.

Bank of Japan Deputy Gov. Ryozo Himino has backed the case for further interest-rate hikes if the economy and prices grow as expected, echoing recent comments from the central bank’s chief, the Wall Street Journal reported. Himino’s remarks on Wednesday suggest that the BOJ’s top officials are on the same page about the bank’s future policy path.

Australian inflation pressures eased in July supported by government rebates aimed at offsetting soaring electricity costs and rising rents, the Wall Street Journal reported. The monthly consumer-price index, which is only a partial reading of economy-wide inflation, rose 3.5% in the 12 months to July 2024, down from 3.8% in June, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday.

Switzerland's federal criminal court on Wednesday convicted two top managers of a Saudi oil company on charges including fraud and money laundering in a vast scam that swiped at least $1.8 billion from a Malaysian state-owned investment fund, the Associated Press reported. PetroSaudi executive Tarek Obaid, a Saudi-Swiss dual national, received a seven-year sentence and British-Swiss associate Patrick Mahony was handed a six-year sentence from the Federal Criminal Court in southern Bellinzona, officials said.

Malaysia is weighing the return of a broad-based consumption tax instead of implementing subsidy cuts for a commonly-used gasoline as the government seeks to bolster its finances, Bloomberg News reported. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s cabinet has been discussing the viability of bringing back the goods and services tax, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. No decision has been reached given the political sensitivities.

Foreign investors in Byju's, including General Atlantic, have urged India's Supreme Court to hear their concerns as judges decide on the future of the insolvent education tech firm, a legal filing shows, Reuters reported. Valued at $22 billion in 2022, Byju's became popular by offering online training courses during the COVID-19 pandemic, but is now locked in a dispute with U.S. lenders seeking $1 billion in unpaid dues - a case that has triggered its insolvency.