India

In a growing sign of companies facing difficulties in meeting their financial obligations, banks were approached for debt restructuring in a record 126 cases during 2012 for a collective amount of Rs 84,000 crore (over USD 15 billion), The Indian Express reported. During the last quarter ended December 31, 2012 itself, a total number of 25 cases were referred for Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) for an aggregate amount of over Rs 20,000 crore, shows the data available with the CDR cell of bankers.

One of the world's largest leasing firms has warned India the failure of troubled carriers like Kingfisher Airlines to return airplanes when they cannot pay their bills could put the country's aviation growth at risk by scaring away new funding. ILFC, which owns over 900 aircraft and rents them out to airlines for several years at a time, is the latest industry player to clash with the Indian carrier, whose financial difficulties have left its aircraft grounded since October.

Widespread speculation about the possible reintroduction of estate duty is proving lucrative for many chartered accountants. Clients, mostly high net-worth ones, are seeking advice on how to restructure ownership of assets to avoid the possibility of huge tax payments by their heirs when the grim reaper comes calling, the Economic Times reported. Estate duty, a tax on inheritance of wealth, is known in many countries as the 'death tax'. In the US, estate tax is imposed on the transfer of the 'taxable estate' of a deceased person.

India’s record current-account deficit threatens to weigh on the rupee and curb the magnitude of interest-rate cuts forecast to begin this month in support of government policies seeking faster growth, Bloomberg News reported today. The shortfall swelled to $22.31 billion in the quarter ended Sept. 30, the widest in Reserve Bank of India data beginning 1949. The rupee is down 6.1 percent against the dollar in the past three months, fanning price gains that will limit Governor Duvvuri Subbarao to a 25 basis-point rate cut on Jan.

The lower house of India's Parliament approved a government proposal to strengthen the central bank's regulatory powers, paving the way for overhauls of the banking sector that could draw investments from more foreign banks as well as local industrial companies, The Wall Street Journal reported. The bill proposes to give the Reserve Bank of India the power to take temporary control of private banks in the event of operational irregularities. It would also increase the limit on the voting rights of any one shareholder in a private bank to 26% from 10%.

Indian wind-turbine maker Suzlon Energy Ltd. has reached an agreement with its lenders to restructure 110 billion rupees ($1.98 billion) of local loans, a person with knowledge of the matter said Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported. The company will get a two-year holiday on interest and principal payments on the debt, which was due in five to six years, this person said. At the end of two years, the loans will be repaid over eight years at a lower interest rate, the person added. Suzlon declined to comment on the matter.

Indian officials pledged to cut the widest budget deficit among the world’s largest emerging markets and curb public debt, as a report this week may show the economy grew at close to the slowest pace in three years, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The government is "optimistic" it will rein in the shortfall for the year through March 31 to 5.3 percent of gross domestic product from the previous year's 5.8 percent, and has no plan "at the moment" to increase its record borrowing program, Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said in Pune, India, on Nov. 24.

Kingfisher Airlines Ltd., controlled by liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya, is struggling to resume services after five straight years of losses and mounting debt forced it to ground planes. India’s bankruptcy laws aren’t helping, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. The carrier can’t emulate U.S. airlines that have gone through court-led Chapter 11 restructuring, as India doesn’t have any similar procedures for service providers. Under the existing law, a government body only oversees rehabilitation of companies with licenses to run factories.

India’s Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. (KAIR) escaped collapse in 2010 by restructuring 77.2 billion rupees ($1.4 billion) of debt it had run up buying airlines and adding routes amid the nation’s economic boom, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. Less than two years later, the carrier controlled by billionaire Vijay Mallya was back in talks with creditors, while its net debt had increased by 9 billion rupees. The airline this month grounded its entire fleet after pilots and engineers went on strike to demand seven months of unpaid salaries.

Indian opposition parties and shopkeepers staged demonstrations and strikes across India on Thursday to protest against a burst of unexpectedly bold economic reforms unveiled by the Congress-led coalition government, the Financial Times reported. Demonstrators focused their anger on a cut in the subsidy for diesel fuel, which pushed up the price by about 14 per cent on Friday, and on a decision to allow foreign investors to own majority stakes in supermarkets and department stores.