India

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., India’s biggest maker of sport-utility vehicles, is the preferred bidder for a controlling stake in Ssangyong Motor Co., the South Korean automaker said today, Bloomberg reported. Ssangyong, operating under bankruptcy protection, plans to sign a preliminary agreement with Mahindra by the end of August and aims to sign a contract for the sale in November, it said in a statement to the Korea Exchange. The company will begin talks with Indian rolling stock maker Raghav Industries Ltd.

The civil aviation ministry is awaiting guidelines from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on a debt restructuring package for the aviation sector, as it will help the ailing airlines bridge mounting losses, DNA India reported. "The RBI has to come up with guidelines for the restructuring of debt of the aviation sector. As far as my ministry is concerned, we support it... I believe that the RBI is actively looking into the issue," civil aviation minister Praful Patel told reporters in New Delhi.

India plans to start conducting twice-yearly stress tests on its banks, following in the footsteps of financial regulators in the US and Europe, the Financial Times reported. The Reserve Bank of India said on Tuesday that it had conducted rudimentary stress tests during the global financial crisis to check credit and interest rate risk. The bank said it would undertake more sophisticated tests in the future to build confidence in the country’s banking system.

Air India's latest turnaround plan, presented to the board and unions Sunday, includes no staff cuts - the very thing critics say is required to turn around India's troubled national carrier, the Hindustan Times reported. "There is no need to cut manpower size by reducing jobs and sending people home," Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Sunday. He also pledged further help to Air India as it struggles to restructure its pricey debt and to pacify restive unions, which have staged two debilitating strikes since September.

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. said Monday it will start due diligence on Ssangyong Motor Co. in the next few days so it can decide on submitting a final bid for South Korea's fourth-largest car maker by sales, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Mahindra, India's biggest sport-utility vehicle maker by sales, is among six companies worldwide who qualified earlier this month to conduct due diligence on cash-strapped Ssangyong before submitting their binding bids.

The Indian government plans to introduce a separate legislation to speed up insolvency proceedings and help distressed firms wind up operations quickly. The new law will shorten the legal processes involving insolvency operations of small and medium entities, The Economic Times reported. The government is keen to make bankruptcy proceedings a time-bound procedure. “Speedy winding up of sick enterprises, particularly small and medium ones, is an area we need to improve,” said a senior official in the ministry of corporate affairs.

Air India is entering a crucial phase of its long-awaited turnaround that could determine whether the venerable airline escapes from massive losses or slides into decrepitude, The Wall Street Journal reported. For the past 11 months, Arvind Jadhav, chairman of state-owned parent company National Aviation Company of India Ltd., has been pushing restructuring measures he says are needed to stem a steep decline in the carrier's fortunes caused by the global recession, payments for new aircraft, an entrenched staff, a botched merger and increasing competition. Among Mr.

Kingfisher Airlines Ltd has roped in US firm Seabury Aviation and Aerospace to advise on restructuring its operations and help the airline boost performance on the back of a reviving domestic industry, the Economic Times of India reported. Prakash Mirpuri, Vice President, Corporate Communications, told Retuers on Monday that fleet optimisation would be one of the areas the consultancy would advise Kingfisher on. The airline has a fleet size of 66 aircraft. Mirpuri did not say how soon Seabury would come up with its recommendations.

Ericsson said it would cut 1,500 jobs as part of its broad restructuring plan. In addition, the vendor's profit plunged 92 percent in the fourth quarter, hit by higher restructuring costs and weaker sales, FierceWireless reported. The Swedish company reported net profit of $43.4 million in the quarter, down from $539.4 million in the year-ago quarter. Sales slumped 13 percent to $8.08 billion, down from $9.29 billion in the fourth quarter last year. Networks sales fell 16 percent in the quarter and professional services sales were flat year-over-year.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC's ABN Amro operations in China said it has uncovered potential irregularities within its small and medium-size enterprise banking business in response to a Wall Street Journal inquiry. The scale and nature of the potential problems at ABN Amro China still remain unclear. ABN Amro has one of the biggest foreign banking franchises in China, operating 18 retail banking outlets in the country. The ABN Amro China spokeswoman declined to give further details about the potential irregularities, citing the bank's ongoing investigation.