India

Indian retailer Future Group on Tuesday challenged its own lenders in the Supreme Court to avoid facing insolvency proceedings over missing payments, citing its dispute with partner Amazon.com Inc , according to a legal filing reviewed by Reuters. Future, the country's second-largest retailer, has since 2020 failed to complete its $3.4 billion retail asset sale to a rival due to a row with Amazon, which argues the Indian group violated certain non-compete contractual terms the two sides had. Future denies any wrongdoing.

Future Retail Ltd. isn’t in a position to make a payment on 35 billion rupees ($471 million) of past-due debt before the grace period expires and will also miss an upcoming $14 million bond coupon deadline, Bloomberg News reported. Its dollar bond fell following the news, suffering its biggest decline in about three weeks on Friday. Embroiled in a legal dispute with Amazon.com Inc. that has damaged its ability to raise funds, the Mumbai-based retailer is coming up against two key milestones that will test creditors’ faith after its onshore debt was restructured during the pandemic.

In a major relief to IT firm HCL Technologies, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has stayed the insolvency proceedings initiated against it on a plea filed by a creditor, the India Tribune reported. A two-member NCLAT Bench, while admitting the petition filed by HCL Tech MD and CEO C Vijayakumar stayed the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) order of January 17, 2022, to initiate insolvency against the IT major.

India's Future Group plans to challenge its own lenders in the Supreme Court to avoid being named a defaulter for missing payments, citing its ongoing dispute with partner Amazon.com Inc, three sources told Reuters on Thursday. Future, the country's second-largest retailer, has since 2020 failed to complete its $3.4 billion retail asset sale to a rival due to successful legal challenges by Amazon, which argues the Indian group violated certain non-compete contractual terms the two sides had. Future denies any wrongdoing.

Tayo Rolls, a Tata group firm, has not generated any revenue since FY18 and is currently undergoing the corporate insolvency resolution process. That has not stopped a section of market punters from trading vigorously in its stock, which has soared nearly 230% since October 1, the Economic Times of India reported. In the absence of a running business operation, analysts said the trading frenzy in the stock could be part of a 'pump and dump' strategy by operators. Tayo Rolls, which suspended its operations in May 2016, is owned by Tata Steel and Japan's Yadogawa Steel.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday that a collective global effort is needed to deal with the problems posed by cryptocurrenices, Reuters reported. "The kind of technology it is associated with, the decision taken by a single country will be insufficient to deal with its challenges. We have to have a similar mindset," Modi said at the World Economic Forum's virtual Davos Agenda conference. India has been mulling virtual currency-related regulations which were widely expected to be introduced in the winter session of the parliament in December before being shelved.

Legal technology startup LegalPay has partnered with Mumbai-based non-banking finance firm Jumbo Finance Ltd to give interim finance to the companies undergoing the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP), the Economic Times of India reported. New Delhi-based LegalPay, which also works as an alternative-investments platform specializing in legal financing, is also in talks with some more such NBFCs to fund companies under CIRP. mid-market companies, including micro-small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), undergoing insolvencies requiring up to Rs 5 crore.

Vodafone Idea Ltd. said that India’s government doesn’t want to actively run the unprofitable phone operator after its board approved a rescue plan that made the state its biggest shareholder with a 36% stake in the company, Bloomberg News reported. “They do not have to desire to take over the operations of the company,” Ravinder Takkar, managing director and chief executive officer of Vodafone Idea, told reporters on Wednesday.

Vodafone Idea said on Tuesday it is giving the Indian government a 35.8% stake in the company after its board approved conversion of dues and spectrum auction installments into equity to save the third-largest telecom operator in the country from collapsing, TechCrunch reported. The operator, a joint venture between the British telecoms group Vodafone and local billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla’s conglomerate, has been attempting to avoid a collapse for several years after the arrival of Reliance Jio, which undercut the competitors with cheap data and free calls offering.

An Indian court has ordered a halt on Amazon.com Inc.’s arbitration case against Future Retail Ltd. in Singapore, a day after it had refused to interfere with the process, Bloomberg News reported. Following an appeal by Future Retail, a two-judge panel of the Delhi High Court overturned Tuesday’s verdict and stayed the arbitration process started by Amazon to stop the cash-strapped Indian retailer’s asset sale to Reliance Industries Ltd. until the next hearing on Feb. 1.