India

India's National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has granted more time to November 30 for completing the insolvency resolution process for Vasan Healthcare and set aside an NCLT order, saying that the timeline could be extended in view of exceptional circumstances and save the company from liquidation, the Daily Excelsior reported. A two-member Chennai Bench of the appellate tribunal has also excluded the time spent in filing appeals – from August 18 to November 25 – before it.

India is looking to bar most private cryptocurrencies when it introduces a new bill to regulate virtual currencies in the winter session of Parliament, the government said late on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The government will allow only certain cryptocurrencies to promote the underlying technology and its uses, according to a legislative agenda for the winter session that is set to start later this month.

Up and down India in places like small town Vita, the mom-and-pop stores that account for four-fifths of a near-$900 billion retail market - more than $700 billion - are increasingly turning to JioMart to stock up on foreign and domestic brands, Reuters reported. Just as Ambani, India's richest man, has disrupted the country's telecoms industry, the tycoon is intent on shaking up retail distribution, taking on U.S. e-commerce giants like Amazon and Walmart Inc., expanding fast in India.

Financial creditors of two non-bank finance companies of the Srei group — Srei Infrastructure Finance (SIFL) and Srei Equipment Finance (SEFL) — may evaluate the prospect of a consolidated insolvency proceeding, TelegraphIndia.com reported. The corporate insolvency resolution process has been initiated in the two companies separately and two cases have been admitted with the Calcutta bench of the NCLT after the RBI superseded their boards on October 4, 2021. A consolidated insolvency proceeding may garner more interest among potential bidders than individual companies.

A Mumbai court has ordered the liquidation of Nakshatra Brands owned by fugitive diamond trader Mehul Choksi, who is charged with duping banks of thousands of crores of rupees, the Economic Times of India reported. This would be another case where recoveries are likely to be less than 5% of the total exposure, estimated at about Rs 1,500 crore. The Mumbai Bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) ordered the winding up of the entity, one of the group companies promoted by Choksi.

An expert panel has suggested designing a national dashboard for insolvency data, saying "reliable real-time data" is essential to assess the performance of the insolvency process under the IBC, the Economic Times of India reported. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), which provides for a time-bound and market-linked resolution of stressed assets, has been in force for more than five years now.

Srei Infrastructure Finance on Wednesday said there may be a delay by the company and its subsidiary Srei Equipment Finance Ltd (SEFL) in submitting financial results for September quarter due to initiation of corporate insolvency resolution process against them, the Business Standard reported. Through an order on October 8, 2021, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Kolkata bench initiated corporate insolvency resolution process against Srei Infrastructure Finance Ltd (SIFL) and SEFL under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

India has cut the taxes paid by consumers on petrol and diesel after the surging cost of crude oil pushed fuel prices to record highs, BBC.com reported. The decision aims to ease price rises and "further spur the overall economic cycle", the government said. Global commodity prices have soared this year as economies around the world recover from the pandemic. However, the move is also expected to boost demand for fuel as countries try to curb fossil fuel consumption. India's excise duty on petrol has been reduced by 5 rupees (£0.049; $0.0671) per litre, and by 10 rupees on diesel.

Indian bonds may not sell off sharply even as the nation’s central bank unwinds stimulus measures because the monetary authority has been communicating its gradualist approach to participants, according to Reliance Nippon Life Insurance, Bloomberg News reported. “It’s a very transparent and calibrated approach the monetary policy committee is taking,” Jyoti Vaswani, chief investment officer at Reliance Nippon Life Insurance Ltd. said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.

India's central bank said on Monday that policy support is needed for longer for a sustained recovery in Asia's third largest economy from a coronavirus induced slowdown, even as demand has picked up, Reuters reported. Earlier this month, The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy committee kept interest rates steady at record lows and reiterated the need to unwind pandemic-era stimulus only gradually to aid the nascent economic recovery.