The reflation trade is carving out refuges in some curious places, case in point: emerging Asian debt. Credit-default swaps on the bonds of every Asian emerging market except for South Korea have tumbled this year, outperforming debt risk for the U.K. and for France, which has jumped amid the presidential election campaign, Bloomberg News reported. Inflows into developing Asian bond markets have also swelled in 2017 as investors bet the world’s fastest-growing region will be able to better withstand the volatility and outflows unleashed by a tightening Federal Reserve.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reason to be wary of ambitious reforms to India’s economy, given the fraught rollout of his plan to ban 500- and 1,000-rupee notes overnight, a Bloomberg View reported. For his country to reach its true economic potential, however, he will need to do something about India’s ailing state banks. These institutions, which account for more than 70 percent of lending in India, are in no immediate danger of collapse. But they’ve become a huge drag on the economy.

Tata Steel UK on Tuesday said it would close its final salary pension scheme to accruals from March 31 as a step towards resolving the future of its British operations, Reuters reported. The fate of Tata's British businesses, including the nation's largest steelworks at Port Talbot, has been in the air since Tata Steel said a year ago it planned to divest its British assets following heavy losses.

Tata Steel Ltd is still in talks with Germany's ThyssenKrupp AG about a potential merger of their European steel assets, the Indian company said on Monday. The statement was in response to reports in the British media on Sunday that India's largest steel company might be in the process of calling off a potential deal with the Germans, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. The company is in "constructive discussions" with ThyssenKrupp, said Tata Steel.

If you owe a bank a hundred dollars, it is your problem. If you owe a hundred million, it is the bank’s problem. If you are one of many tycoons borrowing billions to finance dud firms, it is the government’s problem, The Economist reported. That is roughly the situation India finds itself in today. Its state-owned banks extended credit to companies that are now unable to repay. Like the firms they have injudiciously lent to, many banks are barely solvent. Almost 17% of all loans are estimated to be non-performing; state-controlled banks are trading at a steep discount to book value.

Indian stressed-asset deals will increase this year as bad loans rise and reforms pushed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government start to bear fruit, according to the nation’s top investment banker, Bloomberg News reported. Interest will come from both strategic buyers and private equity firms, said Vishal Kampani, managing director of JM Financial Ltd., the former joint venture partner of Morgan Stanley in India. JM Financial was the No.

Tata steelworkers in the UK have voted to accept the closure of their £15bn pension fund, a historic sacrifice that brings the industry closer to resolving the crisis in British steel, the Financial Times reported. Thousands of trade union members backed a rescue package that Tata Steel offered its British operation, whose future came under threat after the Indian group threatened to quit the country last March. A key condition of the plan — aimed at saving thousands of jobs and maintaining production — was shutting the British Steel Pension Scheme to further contributions.

For several weeks near the end of last year, Indian banks were besieged by snaking queues of customers waiting to deposit banknotes that had suddenly been declared obsolete by the government, the Financial Times reported. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dramatic demonetisation helped drive a Rs5.1tn ($76bn) increase in bank deposits in the final three months of last year — giving the sector a burst of cheap funding and pushing millions of Indians towards the formal banking sector.

Investors expecting a deal this year in Tata Steel's talks to merge its European assets with Germany's Thyssenkrupp risk disappointment, given complications associated with the Indian-owned firm's British pension scheme. Tata and Thyssenkrupp shares have firmed on hopes a merger would trigger European steel capacity cuts, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

Investors expecting a deal this year in Tata Steel's talks to merge its European assets with Germany's Thyssenkrupp risk disappointment, given complications associated with the Indian-owned firm's British pension scheme. Tata and Thyssenkrupp shares have firmed on hopes a merger would trigger European steel capacity cuts, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.