India

The finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday announced that she has asked state-run banks to step up lending and hold outreach programmes or loans melas across India from October to lend to desirable borrowers, in order to give momentum to the stimulus package. Sitharaman said that it was too early say that there is lack of credit demand in the economy, the Economic Times of India reported. “This year too sometime in October, there will be a credit outreach in every district of the country,” the finance minister said.

India plans to raise 6 trillion rupees ($81 billion) from selling state-owned infrastructure assets over next four years to help bolster the government’s finances and plug its budget deficit, Bloomberg News reported. The plan will include sale of road and railway assets, airports, power transmission lines and gas pipelines, said the people who asked not to be identified as they aren’t authorized to share the details. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to make the road-map public at 5 p.m. Monday.

A telecom carrier and a retailer are showing a mirror to India’s tryst with assisted corporate demise and rebirth, according to a Bloomberg News commentary. As the five-year-old bankruptcy experiment flounders, blame it on what development scholars refer to as “isomorphic mimicry”: Emerging economies ape the form of successful Western institutions but leave them dysfunctional and devoid of content, almost guaranteeing their failure, according to the commentary.

The pandemic has led to the International Finance Corporation massively ramping up its impact investment in India - its largest client nation globally - at USD 1.7 billion as of June, a 51 per cent rise over the past 12 months, the largest developmental lender into third world private sector said on Tuesday, the Economic Times of India reported. This is nearly half of its investment in the whole of South Asia since the pandemic, which touched USD 3.8 billion as of June 2021, it said.

The Reserve Bank of India relaxed a rule on bank’s purchases of foreign sovereign bonds, paving the way for lenders to resume a profitable currency trade, Bloomberg News reported. In a notice sent to some banks on Monday, the RBI said foreign sovereign bonds wouldn’t fall under a regulatory cap that requires holdings of securities unlisted in India to be 10% or less of the total non-statutory liquidity ratio portfolio, the people said, asking not to be identified as they aren’t authorized to speak to media. The RBI’s latest decision comes after banks made a representation seeking relaxation.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Mumbai on August 6 dismissed an application seeking the closure of Rolta India’s Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), the Times of India reported. A consortium of lenders to Rolta represented by advocates Rohit Gupta and Nausher Kohli had opposed a plea for closure of the process, saying that they have an outstanding of around Rs 5,400 Crores.

There are seven bidders, including a couple of Asset Reconstruction Companies who have expressed preliminary interest to take over the beleaguered eye care chain Vasan Eye, the Times of India reported. The last date for submission of early interest ended July 19. The NCLT appointed resolution professional had called for early interest for Vasan Eye Care. India’s largest eye care chain Dr Agarwal’s Eye and MGM Hospital’s promoter MK Rajagopalan, Dr GSK Velu’s MaxiVision are among the list of bidders. Dr Amar Agarwal and MK Rajagopalan did not wish to comment on the bid.

The Piramal group has sought the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) permission to reach a settlement and issue new debentures to the foreign lenders of DHFL, in what would be the first of its kind transaction, the Economic Times of India reported. Offshore investors, some of whose identities are not readily available, had put in close to ₹850 crore in masala bonds sold by DHFL — the non-bank mortgage lender that Piramal wants to take over following a bankruptcy court ruling.

Future Group is fighting its final battle for existence. Supreme Court’s ruling that upheld Singapore Emergency Arbitrator’s award against Reliance Retail’s ₹24,713 crore takeover of Future group companies may have a bigger impact on Kishore Biyani’s retail chain as it is on the verge of bankruptcy, Fortune India reported. Most retail outlets are shut because of the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions. Vendors have stopped supplies as dues ballooned to more than ₹6,000 crore, say company sources.