India

India on Wednesday approved a 13-billion-rupee ($170 million) plan to promote domestic RuPay debit cards and low-value digital transactions to boost their use in marginalised populations, in a move that could challenge the clout of rivals like Visa and Mastercard, Reuters reported. Under the plan, the government will pay banks a percentage of the value of transactions done via RuPay debit cards and low-value direct interbank transactions for a year, backdated to begin in April 2021, a government statement said.

India is working out a package on an urgent basis to assist Sri Lanka, following finance minister Basil Rajapaksa's New Delhi visit that focussed on measures to tide over an economic crisis that the island nation is facing, the Economic Times of India reported. India is expected to extend a food & health security package to Sri Lanka on an urgent basis, along with an energy security package and currency swap, and also push Indian investments, officials told ET.

Four leading textile players — Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, B K Goenka’s Welspun, Sanjay Dalmia’s GHCL and Dinesh Kumar Himatsingka’s Himatsingka — placed bids for the bankrupt Sintex Industries, which weaves fabrics for global fashion brands like Armani, Burberry and Diesel, the Economic Times of India reported. While RIL teamed up with stressed asset buyer Assets Care & Reconstruction Enterprise for the Sintex bid, the other three parties have made solo offers.

Reliance Capital on Wednesday asked the creditors of the company to submit their claims with proof by December 20 following initiation of corporate insolvency process against the firm, the Economic Times of India reported. In an order dated December 6, 2021 of the National Company Law Tribunal, Mumbai (NCLT), corporate insolvency resolution process has been initiated against Reliance Capital as per the provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016. In this connection, the company made a public announcement on creditors' claims.

The RBI has cited Reliance Capital’s default to Yes Bank in respect of dues amounting to Rs 1,417 crore as a key default while initiating insolvency proceedings against the Anil Ambani group finance company, the Times of India reported. The National Company Law Tribunal on Monday admitted the insolvency proceedings and announced a moratorium in terms of the bankruptcy code.

As many as 421 cases involving a realisable value of Rs 2.55 lakh crore were resolved and 1,149 cases having a liquidation value of Rs 52,036 crore went for liquidation under the insolvency law till this September, the Indian government said on Tuesday, the Economic Times reported. Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) is conducted as per the provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). As of September 30, a total of 4,708 CIRPs were initiated under the IBC.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday filed an application for initiation of Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) against debt-ridden Reliance Capital at the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), the Economic Times of India reported. The Reserve Bank had on November 29 superseded the board of Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Capital Ltd (RCL) in view of payment defaults and serious governance issues. The central bank had also appointed Nageswar Rao Y (former executive director, Bank of Maharashtra) as the administrator of the company.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has initiated insolvency proceedings against NCR-based real estate firm MGF Developments Limited, on a petition filed by a group of homebuyers, the Economic Times of India reported. The NCLT has also appointed a Interim Resolution Professional. “Since, the financial creditor satisfies all the requirement of section 7 of IBC, 2016. We are therefore, satisfied that the applicant/financial creditor has made out a case under Section 7 IBC for admission and a clear case of default has been established.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has superseded the board of Reliance Capital (RCL) and appointed former Bank of Maharashtra executive director Y Nageswar Rao as an administrator of the company, the Economic Times of India reported. The action by the central bank was taken "in view of the defaults by RCL in meeting the various payment obligations to its creditors and serious governance concerns which the board has not been able to address effectively," RBI said in a press release.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government moved to repeal controversial farm laws as parliament reconvened Monday, to quell protests from a crucial vote bank that show little sign of abating with key state elections due next year, Bloomberg News reported. Both houses of parliament approved the scrapping of the legislation in rushed voice votes even as the opposition parties demanded a debate. However, the rollback alone does not seem to assuaged the farmers’ anger and they have vowed to keep pushing ahead with their protests to press the government for guaranteed crop prices.