India

Global mining conglomerate Vedanta Resources said on Friday it was seeking international arbitration over Zambia’s appointment of a provisional liquidator to run the company’s Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) business, Reuters reported. Vedanta said on Friday its executives were unable to visit its KCM operation and engage with local management, in a setback to efforts to ease tensions amid a legal battle with Africa’s second-biggest copper producer. The Zambian government has accused KCM of breaching its operating license. Legal proceedings have been adjourned until June 4.

Creditors of Jaypee Infratech Thursday decided to put on vote NBCC's bid to acquire the debt-laden realty firm even as the state-owned firm did not dilute certain conditions in its offer including relief from future tax liabilities, sources said, Yahoo! News reported. The voting under the insolvency process, run by Jaypee Infratech's Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) Anuj Jain, will start from Friday and continue till June 10, they added. As many as 13 banks and over 23,000 home buyers have voting rights in the committee of creditors (CoC). Buyers have nearly 60 per cent votes.

India probably lost its spot as the fastest growing major economy to China in the January-March quarter as a chill in domestic and global consumer demand hit manufacturers and service providers, Reuters reported. The slowing economy didn’t stop voters giving Prime Minister Narendra Modi a landslide victory in an election concluded earlier this month. But it puts an onus on him to deliver reforms that can truly unlock growth, which had waxed and waned during his first five years in office.

India’s largest lender is hoping to capitalize on the country’s shadow banking crisis by building its mortgage and small business loan book as the non-banks are forced to pull back, Bloomberg News reported. State Bank of India, which is slowly emerging from a period of massive provisioning on loans to large corporates like Essar Steel India Ltd., sees opportunities in taking business from the shadow banks without creating new asset quality problems, according to Chairman Rajnish Kumar.

India’s shadow banks are likely to see a further squeeze on their profit margins after the Reserve Bank of India signaled it will tighten liquidity requirements to bring them in line with the country’s more closely regulated commercial banks, Bloomberg News reported. Instead of providing a much-expected liquidity window to non-bank finance companies via the regular lenders, the central bank took a tougher stance on Friday by issuing draft guidelines requiring most NBFCs to set aside a liquidity buffer by investing in high-quality liquid assets, primarily sovereign bonds.

The Delhi bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has dismissed ICICI Bank's application seeking insolvency proceedings against Hyderabad Ring Road Projects Pvt Ltd on the ground of duplicacy as proceedings are already underway against Era Infra Engineering, of which the former firm is a special purpose vehicle (SPV), Business Standard reported. The two-judge bench headed by NCLT President M.M. Kumar dismissed the petition, saying "on account of duplicacy of the claims the petition cannot be entertained".

ndia’s debt-ridden Anil Ambani group will exit the asset management business by selling shares in its joint venture to Japanese partner Nippon Life Insurance Co., which will take a controlling stake in India’s fifth-biggest mutual fund, Bloomberg News reported. Ambani’s Reliance Capital Ltd. signed a binding definitive agreement to sell 32.12% of Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Ltd. for 45.2 billion rupees ($649 million) to the Japanese insurer, taking the latter’s shareholding to 75%, the companies said in statements on Thursday.

Shares of Indian non-bank lenders for housing plunged on reports that Dewan Housing Finance Corp. has stopped accepting fresh money and halted premature withdrawals from existing deposit plans, Bloomberg News reported. The company, which was already facing difficulties in the bond market following a string of recent downgrades, slumped as much as 18%, the most since Feb. 1, on Wednesday. Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd. fell as much as 4.1% before paring losses, while PNB Housing Finance Ltd. declined as much as 2.6%.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Tuesday its central board had decided to create a separate supervisory and regulatory cadre within the bank after reviewing the current supervisory structure, Reuters reported. The board also reviewed the current economic situation, global and domestic challenges and various areas of operations of the central bank, along with the medium-term strategy document covering the RBI’s Mission Statement and the Vision Statement.

Signs of a turnaround at its marquee Jaguar Land Rover unit may not be enough to ease the challenges facing India’s oldest and most-storied business empire, Bloomberg News reported. The Tata Group bought the British luxury carmaker in 2008 for $2.3 billion, and it’s lately become a drag on the salt-to-software conglomerate, racking up losses in three quarters through December. Although Jaguar posted a net income of 119 million pounds ($151 million) this week, debt at owner Tata Motors Ltd.