India

Foreign investors sold a record $16bn of Indian stocks and bonds in March as the economic tumult caused by coronavirus prompted a flight from emerging markets, the Financial Times reported. The selling by overseas investors came during a dire month for India’s financial markets. The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex index fell 23 per cent in March to its lowest level since 2017, while the rupee dropped to a record low of more than 76 to the dollar. Foreign investors sold Rs620bn ($8.2bn) of equities in March and Rs603bn in bonds, according to data from India’s securities depositories.

The committee of creditors (CoC) of beleaguered wind energy producer Suzlon Energy have started voting on the debt restructuring plan presented by promoters of the company, sources close to development told FE, The Financial Express reported. The process will conclude by March 26. “Out of 19 lenders, 16 have voted on resolution plan” the source added. The e-voting for Suzlon was supposed to be completed on March 21, but due to the existing scenario over Covid-19, it has been extended till March 26, a source further added.

India deferred deadlines for filing tax returns, extended a tax amnesty program and unveiled other procedural relief steps, while promising more measures to support the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. Tax payers can file their annual returns by June 30 instead of the March 31 deadline for the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2019, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in New Delhi Tuesday. Besides rules will be tweaked to check trigger of insolvency cases against companies, and norms relaxed for holding of board meetings, she said.

India will suspend all domestic flights from midnight Tuesday, the final piece of a nationwide lockdown that threatens Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attempts to revive an economy already expanding at the slowest pace in more than a decade, Bloomberg News reported. The open-ended flight ban compliments a nationwide cancellation of all passenger trains, as authorities try to halt the spread of the coronavirus in the world’s second-most populous nation, and one which has poorly equipped hospitals and inadequate social security.

Property developers across India’s big cities have been asked to ensure their laborers have enough to eat, even though construction may have halted under a government-imposed lockdown to fight the coronavirus outbreak, Bloomberg News reported. The Hiranandani Group has organized 15 days of food rations for more than 4,000 laborers across sites. Oberoi Realty Ltd. will continue to pay its staff, and Boman Irani, vice president at the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India, said large contracting companies, such as Larsen & Toubro Ltd.

Banks from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and India risk losing millions of dollars due to their exposure to Finablr Plc, the foreign-exchange operator that’s preparing for potential insolvency, according to people with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg News reported. Qatar National Bank, Doha Bank, National Bank of Fujairah, Commercial Bank International and Bank of Baroda are still owed about $300 million by Finablr’s parent BRS Ventures, which is owned by Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty, some of the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.

India’s top court ruled out a reassessment of $19 billion in past dues to be paid by telecom companies, a move that could send indebted carrier Vodafone Idea Ltd. into bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. A three-judge panel, headed by Justice Arun Mishra, said it will consider a proposal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration seeking a 20-year payment plan for dues worth 1.4 trillion rupees. The years-long case centers around the dispute between the government and mobile carriers over how license and spectrum fees are calculated.

In a bid to avoid frivolous applications under the IBC, one of the amendments to the insolvency law passed in Parliament on March 13 — the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Act, 2020 — put in place a minimum threshold for certain class of creditors to initiate insolvency proceedings, The Hindu Business Line reported.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Wednesday allowed 90 days' extension for the corporate insolvency resolution process of Jet Airways, Firstpost reported. Jet Airways' resolution professional had last week filed an application in NCLT seeking 90 days' extension for the insolvency process of the grounded airline after it failed to attract any bidder. The NCLT bench, comprising Bhaskara Pantula Mohan and Rajesh Sharma, granted the extension as the Committee of Creditors (CoC) voted for the same, with 70 percent votes in favour.

Vodafone's Indian joint venture was thrown a potential lifeline on Monday after the government proposed that telecoms groups should be given a period of 20 years to pay about $13bn in retrospective levies and penalties, the Financial Times reported. The application submitted to the Supreme Court comes after it ruled in October that telecoms companies must pay the historic fees within months, in a judgment that threatened the survival of Vodafone Idea and hit foreign investor confidence. It is unclear if the Supreme Court will accept the application when it next meets.