In 2019, a little-known Chinese carmaker named Zhido went bust after Beijing cut subsidies for the tiny electric cars it made, crushing its sales. Now it is back. Earlier this month, the company released a boxy new mini-electric vehicle called “Caihong,” or “Rainbow” in Chinese, which comes in seven pastel colors—including “Mint Mambo”—and has a starting price equivalent to around $4,400, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The bankruptcy court on Thursday admitted two Essel Group entities Primcomm Media Distribution Ventures Ltd and Essel Homes Pvt Ltd under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) after Gnex Realtech Pvt Ltd, an affiliate entity, defaulted on its dues of Rs 260 crore where these companies provided corporate guarantee, the Economic Times of India reported. The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), in applications filed by Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd, also appointed Ravi Prakash Ganti as interim resolution professional (IRP) for these companies.

Sri Lanka will hand over management of its $209 million Chinese-built airport to two Indian and Russian companies, a cabinet statement said on Friday, as the island nation attempts to reduce losses from its state enterprises. Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA), funded by China EXIM Bank, has stoked controversy since its opening in 2013 due to a low number of flights, environmentally sensitive location and persistent financial losses. The airport's management will be handed over to Shaurya Aeronautics (Pvt) Ltd.

Shares in Jinke Property Group plunged by the exchange-imposed limit today after the troubled Chinese developer’s bankruptcy restructuring filing was accepted by a court in Chongqing, Yicai Global reported. It is the first time that the bankruptcy re-organization by a large developer has been accepted by a Chinese court and makes Jinke the first mainland-listed developer to enter the restructuring process. Jinke’s share price was trading down 5 percent today at CNY1.14 (USD0.16), the daily limit imposed by the stock exchange on companies at risk of delisting.

China has taken another step to limit domestic investors’ exposure to offshore debt issued by local government financing vehicles, Bloomberg News reported. The National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors, the country’s interbank market watchdog better known as NAFMII, has halted registration of new credit-linked notes, a derivatives product, that use offshore LGFV debt as underlying assets. While the NAFMII earlier this month told some brokerages who are major issuers of CLNs that the suspension is temporary, it didn’t indicate when it may be lifted.

India’s household debt likely surged to a record in the final three months of last year, with signs that consumers are boosting riskier borrowing that’s been a worry for the central bank, Bloomberg News reported. Household debt touched a new high of 39.1% of gross domestic product in the October-December quarter, up from 36.7% a year ago, estimated economists Nikhil Gupta and Tanisha Ladha of Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd in a report earlier this week. The figures are higher than the previous peak of 38.6% in the Jan-March period of 2021.

Turkey’s central bank kept interest rates unchanged, pausing a month after surprising markets with a big hike and delivering additional tightening since then, Bloomberg News reported. The Monetary Policy Committee led by Governor Fatih Karahan left the one-week repo rate at 50% on Thursday. All but two economists surveyed by Bloomberg correctly predicted the decision, while the rest saw an increase. The lira pared gains after the announcement and traded 0.2% stronger against the dollar as of 3:14 p.m. in Istanbul.

Indonesia’s central bank delivered its first rate hike of the year, defying broad projections for a hold as it looks to support a tumbling rupiah, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bank Indonesia on Wednesday raised its benchmark seven-day reverse repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25%, tightening policy settings for the first time since October last year. The decision is a “pre-emptive and forward-looking step to strengthen rupiah’s stability and cushion the impact of worsening global risks,” Bank Indonesia Gov. Perry Warjiyo said at a press conference.

South Korea’s economy grew at a stronger-than-expected pace in the first quarter on improving private consumption, construction increases and steady exports, the Wall Street Journal reported. Gross domestic product in Asia’s fourth-largest economy expanded 3.4% year-over-year during the January-March period, accelerating from the previous quarter’s 2.2% growth, Bank of Korea preliminary data showed Thursday. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the economy grew 1.3% for the first three months of 2024, faster than the prior quarter’s 0.6% expansion, according to the central bank.

The Ahmedabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has admitted the listed road infrastructure company, Sadbhav Engineering, under the corporate insolvency resolution process in an application filed by its operational creditor, SS Infra, the Economic Times of India reported. The tribunal has also appointed Sanjay Kumar Agarwal as the interim resolution professional (IRP) of the company.