India’s banks and shadow lenders face a surge in bad debts from the nationwide economic lockdown aimed at combating the coronavirus outbreak, risking a wave of corporate defaults, the Financial Times reported. Rating agencies and analysts are concerned the strict, 21-day lockdown imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi — which has shut down all but the most essential economic activity — has threatened the health of the banking sector, particularly the 10,000 or so less-regulated shadow lenders.

Moody’s Investors Service slashed the outlook for the Indian banking system to negative from stable citing disruptions to economic activity from the coronavirus pandemic that will worsen the ongoing slowdown and impair lenders’ asset quality, Bloomberg News reported. A deterioration in global economic conditions and a 21-day lockdown imposed by India will weigh on domestic demand and private investment, the ratings agency said in a statement Thursday.

India’s checkered history with foreign investors is making one of the biggest emerging markets look particularly vulnerable at a time when its need for overseas funding has never been clearer, Bloomberg News reported. Decades of semi-socialist, self-reliance based policies following independence left a legacy of ambivalence, or even skepticism, towards overseas capital. As recently as last year, plans for an inaugural offshore sovereign bond provoked a wave of controversy. That could all change now that India faces both a sharp economic slowdown and a rapid expansion in borrowing needs.

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.