China’s finance ministry promised more proactive government spending this year, as Beijing doubles down on boosting the economy amid a deepening property slump, while wary economists say bolder moves are needed to rejuvenate growth, the Wall Street Journal reported. Fiscal expenditure in 2024 will be maintained at the necessary intensity and fiscal transfers to local governments will remain at certain levels, officials from the Ministry of Finance said at a press conference on Thursday, signaling more financial support from Beijing to local governments struggling with piling debt.

India's fast-growing airline industry faces higher leasing bills unless the country clarifies its insolvency laws, the head of major leasing firm Aviation Capital Group (ACG) said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Foreign lessors, including an Irish subsidiary of U.S.-based ACG, were blocked from recovering jets caught up in the bankruptcy of budget carrier Go First last year and many are still embroiled in a legal battle to recover their assets.

The poster child of China’s property crisis is no more. But the mess that triggered the downfall of China Evergrande is far from over, the Wall Street Journal reported. A Hong Kong court on Monday ordered Evergrande’s liquidation after creditors once again failed to reach a deal on restructuring its debts. The blow fell more than two years after Evergrande’s default on its dollar bonds ushered in a dangerous new phase in China’s efforts to rein in one of the largest real-estate booms in history.

Former Indiabulls promoter Rajiv Rattan has lost control of Sinnar Thermal Power after the bankruptcy appellate court vacated a stay to initiate corporate insolvency against the company, the Economic Times of India reported. Sinnar Thermal Power (STPL) is a subsidiary of the listed company RattanIndia Power, one of the largest distressed power producers, which has a 1,350 MW power plant at Nashik in Maharashtra. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted the company for corporate insolvency on September 19, 2022.

The seeds of former flight attendant Mitsuko Tottori's rise to the top of Japan Airlines (JAL) were planted in the aftermath of the carrier's bankruptcy more than a decade ago, Reuters reported. Tottori, who rose through the ranks from cabin crew to chief customer officer, takes over as president of JAL in April, becoming one of the few women to lead a major global airline. Qantas, opens new tab has a woman boss and KLM and Air France are led by women who report to a male group CEO.

In a relief to low-cost carrier SpiceJet, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on January 29 dismissed an insolvency petition filed against the company by aircraft lessor Wilmington Trust SP Services, The Hindu reported. A Delhi-based bench of NCLT comprising members Mahendra Khandelwal and Rahul Prasad Bhatnagar dismissed the petition of the aircraft lessor based in Dublin, Ireland. Wilmington moved the insolvency plea against SpiceJet in June 2023 over unpaid dues.

China Evergrande Group creditors are set to recover just a fraction of the billions of dollars worth of the builder’s debt they hold, with most of its assets likely hard to access for liquidators, Bloomberg News reported. Almost all of Evergrande’s assets are in mainland China, presenting legal hurdles for non-Chinese administrators. The key Hong Kong holdings add up to just $2.9 billion compared with $25.4 billion in offshore liabilities as of the end of June 2022, according to a court document and Bloomberg’s calculations.

Property developer China Evergrande Group has been ordered to liquidate by a Hong Kong court, bringing an end to the yearslong saga of a company whose default rippled through the world’s second-largest economy, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The liquidation order came despite an 11th-hour push by the company’s creditors to reach a deal over the weekend, according to people familiar with the matter. It comes more than two years after the company defaulted on its dollar bonds, becoming one of the first dominoes to fall in China’s beleaguered real-estate sector.

An estimated 233 home developers in China filed for bankruptcy last year, according to the China Real Estate Association, the Taiwan News reported. The highest number of bankruptcies was in Zhejiang Province, with 36 cases accounting for 15.45% of the nation’s total. Hunan and Guangdong provinces were second and third respectively. However, the report added the number of bankruptcies for 2023 was the lowest since 2020. There were 408 home developers who filed for bankruptcy in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, 343 in 2021, and 308 in 2022.