India

China intends to extend renminbi loans to other Brics nations, in another step towards the internationalisation of its currency, the Financial Times reported. The China Development Bank will sign a memorandum of understanding in New Delhi with its Brazilian, Russian, Indian and South African counterparts on March 29, say people familiar with their talks. Under the agreement CDB, which lends mainly in dollars overseas, will make renminbi loans available, while the other Brics nations’ development banks will also extend loans denominated in their respective currencies.

The head of AerCap Holdings NV said Wednesday that it repossessed two planes from India's Kingfisher Airlines Ltd., underscoring the challenges facing aircraft leasing companies after the collapse of as many as a dozen carriers so far this year, Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported. Kingfisher has grounded planes and is seen by analysts as the next potential casualty of the tough industry environment that has already claimed large carriers such as Hungary's Malev and Spanair in Spain.

Loss-making Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. has made a fresh appeal to its lenders for additional loans of INR2 billion ($40.59 million), less than a fourth of what it had asked earlier, in another effort to solve its severe cash crunch problem, a senior executive at one of the lending banks said Saturday, Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported. "Most of Kingfisher's banks have declared its debt a non-performing asset, so the airline has asked the few banks which have not," the executive told Dow Jones Newswires without elaborating. He did not wish to be identified due to confidentiality norms.

India's aviation regulator asked Kingfisher Airlines to explain why it has cancelled a large number of flights since Saturday, while the government again ruled out providing any aid to the loss-making carrier, Reuters reported. Kingfisher has cancelled 32 out of the 240 flights that it operates each day, the airlines said on Saturday, adding that it expected to return to full service within days.

Kingfisher Airlines said it is in talks with Hong Kong-based SC Lowy and some other investors to raise funds, as the financially beleaguered airline expedites steps to stay afloat. The discussions come at a time when Kingfisher, controlled by liquor baron Vijay Mallya, is struggling with depleting cash flow, high debt and unpaid bills. The financial troubles have forced the airline to cut dozens of flights, ground several planes, stop its low-fare operations and seek government help to sustain its business.

Lenders to Air India on Thursday were unable to reach a decision on the ailing national carrier's $4 billion debt restructuring, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, further delaying the airline's long-pending proposal, Reuters reported. Last week, the lenders -- a consortium of 13 banks led by State Bank of India -- deferred Air India's debt restructuring proposal, seeking a revision as they were reluctant to accept equity in the airline. One of the options discussed by the banks on Thursday was to convert the airline's debt into a government-backed bond, the sources said.

A debt restructuring plan for troubled national carrier Air India has been rejected by the airline's lenders, the Business Standard newspaper reported on Wednesday, as bankers refused to take a stake in the loss-making airline. A consortium of banks with exposure to state-owned Air India, rejected a proposal to convert 60 percent of the carrier's $4 billion debt into long-term loans and accept the balance in equity, the report said citing unnamed sources.

Lenders, led by State Bank of India, have decided to seek a review of the debt restructuring plan for National Aviation Company of India (Nacil) that was pushed by the government citing their inability to take a large haircut, The Times of India reported. The move, which comes six weeks after banks agreed to a restructuring of nearly Rs 21,000 crore of Nacil debt, will come as a blow to the government's efforts to get the beleaguered national carrier back on track.

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., India’s biggest sport-utility vehicle manufacturer, is interested in buying at least parts of bankrupt Swedish carmaker Saab Automobile, two people familiar with the situation said, Bloomberg reported. Mahindra, based in Mumbai, is in the process of trying to set up meetings with the two court-appointed administrators who are overseeing Saab’s bankruptcy to possibly buy parts of the carmaker or the whole company, said the people, who declined to be identified because the plans are private.

India failed to adopt its long-awaited anticorruption legislation, a major embarrassment to the government that had promised to address an issue that has scared away foreign investors and brought waves of protesters into the streets, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had pledged to pass a bill to create a federal corruption watchdog by the end of 2011 after public protests this summer over pervasive graft destabilized the government.