India

Dewan Housing Finance Corp. Ltd (DHFL), India’s first non-bank lender to face bankruptcy proceedings, has a curious mix of operational creditors, Mint reported. On one end of the spectrum, there’s investment bank Rothschild & Co. India Pvt. Ltd. And then, on the other end of the spectrum are neighbourhood tea shops and florists, all claiming that their dues haven’t been cleared by the company, according to documents reviewed by Mint.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Tuesday reserved its order over a batch of petitions over Bhushan Power and Steel''s sale to JSW Steel under the insolvency process, Outlook reported. An NCLAT bench headed by Justice S J Mukhopadhaya concluded its hearing as arguments in all seven petitions, including JSW Steel and former promoters of Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd (BPSL), are over.

The government notification stating that third-party assets, or loan pools sold by non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), must be serviced even when the company is under insolvency proceedings will give a boost to securitisation transactions, rating agency Icra said on Tuesday, The Financial Express reported. The notification was issued after defaults on securitisation transactions originated by troubled mortgage lender Dewan Housing Finance (DHFL) following a court-ordered moratorium on repayments to creditors.

India is cutting income taxes and increasing spending, hoping to resuscitate growth, which has tumbled to a 10-year low in Asia’s third-largest economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. Some economists and executives, however, warned that some of the measures unveiled over the weekend could end up hurting the economy more than they help it.

India and China have been hit by a surge in consumer prices that, together with a slowdown in growth, has sparked fears of “stagflation” in the world’s two most populous countries, the Financial Times reported. If the Asian powerhouses were to be overtaken by the phenomenon — rising prices in a stagnant economy — their slowing economies would pose a grave threat to global growth. The prospect of stagflation has haunted Beijing for the past six months. China’s economic growth is at a 29-year low and consumer price inflation remains above 4 per cent.

Two Indiabulls Group entities have moved the NCLT against IDBI Trusteeship Ltd. to recover dues against loans assigned to them by Dewan Housing Finance Ltd. DHFL, a non-banking finance company, had entered into an arrangement for assignment of loans with Indiabulls Commercial Credit Ltd. and Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd. for a consideration, BloombergQuint reported. As per the arrangement, the Indiabulls entities became assignee of the loans and DHFL ceased to hold any rights in such loans after the assignment.

The national company law appellate tribunal (NCLAT) has halted insolvency proceedings of Gurgaon-based Raheja developers after the realtor approached the court claiming it had been fraudulently dragged into bankruptcy by two home buyers, The Economic Times reported. Raheja was admitted for insolvency proceedings in August 2019 by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) which held the company in default of its obligations to two home buyers who at the time had approached the tribunal claiming delay in delivery of flats.

Deutsche Bank AG and a Singapore based hedge fund bought more debt of an embattled Indian shadow lender, highlighting the growing foreign interest in the discounted assets of the financier at the center of a credit crisis, Bloomberg News reported. Deutsche Bank has almost doubled the debt it holds of Altico Capital India Ltd. to 3 billion rupees ($42.1 million) in the last four months, while Singapore-based Broad Peak Investment Advisers Ltd. has acquired debt of about 1 billion rupees, people familiar with the matter said.

Deutsche Bank AG has moved an insolvency application against Uttam Galva Steels Ltd. at the National Company Law Tribunal to recover dues against the foreign currency-denominated loans its Singapore branch extended, BloombergQuint reported. Uttam Galva Steels—which had entered into a $20-million credit facility agreement with the lender for its capital and operational needs—had challenged the maintainability of the bank’s application under section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. The section allows financial creditors to file insolvency application.

India’s great telecom melee was bad enough as a brawl between service providers and the state, with operators complaining about the government’s outlandish claims on their past revenue, Bloomberg News reported in a commentary. Now, consumers have jumped into the fray. A confusing three-cornered fight could lead to ugly outcomes: The country’s broken financial system would take a fresh hit; new 5G networks could be delayed; and the government’s annual revenue from the sector might get squeezed.