Headlines

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has ordered initiation of insolvency proceedings against realty firm Santasha Real Estate, the Business Standard reported. The order came on a plea filed by Vani Advertising, an operational creditor to the company that has claimed a default of Rs 40.77 lakh. Admitting the plea, a two-member New Delhi bench of the NCLT appointed an interim resolution professional after suspending the board of the real estate firm.

An exodus of foreign workers from Saudi Arabia started to reverse after a year and a half as the economy recovers from the pandemic and oil prices rally, Bloomberg News reported. The private sector added more than 250,000 jobs for non-Saudis, according to fourth-quarter data released on Wednesday by the kingdom’s General Authority for Statistics. Citizens also benefited, with more than 83,000 jobs added for Saudis in the private sector and nearly 24,000 in government. Unemployment among nationals dropped to 11%, the lowest level since 2009.

Thailand's economic activity in March came under pressure from rising coronavirus infections and higher inflation driven by increasing energy prices, after a recovery in the previous month, the central bank said on Thursday, Reuters reported. Overall business activity was steady in March, while the baht depreciated following an escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Bank of Thailand (BOT) said. Southeast Asia's second-largest economy should, however, remain on the recovery path, senior BOT director Chayawadee Chai-Anant told a news conference.

European Union lawmakers were set on Thursday to back tougher safeguards for transfers of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, in the latest sign that regulators are tightening up on the freewheeling sector, Reuters reported. Two committees in the European Parliament have thrashed out cross-party compromises to be voted on. Crypto exchange Coinbase Global Inc. has warned the rules would usher in a surveillance regime that stifles innovation. The $2.1 trillion crypto sector is still subject to patchy regulation across the world.

Hong Kong's retail sales fell in February after 12 straight months of growth as a wave or COVID-19 infections hit the city and anti-epidemic measures weakened consumer sentiment and reduced the numbers of people going to shop, Reuters reported. Retail sales in February fell 14.6% from a year earlier to HK$25.2 billion ($3.22 billion), official data released on Thursday showed. That compares with a revised 4% increase in January and a 13.7% fall in last decline in January 2021. It is the steepest decline since July 2020, during the early months of the pandemic, when sales dropped 23.1%.

Regulators are looking to update rules, which target companies abusing their market power and those setting up illegal cartels, to make them more efficient, EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said on Thursday, Reuters reported. Under the rules, known as Regulation 1/2003 and in force since 2004, the European Commission has taken on Alphabet unit Google, Apple, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Intel and imposed billions of euros in fines.

A quartet of outside law firms and accountants will help probe how banks ended up taking control of more than $2 billion at a key China Evergrande Group subsidiary, the Wall Street Journal reported. Last week, the highly indebted Chinese real-estate developer and its Evergrande Property Services Group Ltd. unit said lenders had enforced their rights over 13.4 billion yuan, or about $2.1 billion, of bank deposits pledged by the subsidiary to guarantee third-party borrowing.

As millions of people in Shanghai line up for coronavirus tests, authorities are promising tax refunds for shopkeepers in the closed-down metropolis and to keep the world's busiest port functioning to limit disruption to industry and trade, the Associated Press reported. This week's shutdown of most activity in China's most populous city to contain virus outbreaks jolted global financial markets that already were on edge about Russia's war on Ukraine, higher U.S. interest rates and a Chinese economic slowdown.

The war in Ukraine is making a bad situation worse for Japanese power providers struggling with the energy crisis, forcing more companies to quit the business, the Japan Times reported. In the last month, at least four companies halted power retail operations, as a surge in wholesale electricity prices makes it challenging to procure stable supply and turn a profit. At least seven temporarily halted taking on new customers for some plans. For the fiscal year ending Thursday, 14 Japanese power companies have filed for bankruptcy, according to Teikoku Databank.

Europe's economy is increasingly strained by Russia's war in Ukraine as growth stalls, confidence plummets and inflation soars, data and warnings from policymakers made clear on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Sanctions on Russia following its invasion last month have pushed energy prices to record highs across the continent, sapping confidence and raising the risk of another recession, even before some states have recovered from a COVID-fuelled downturn.