India

Resources conglomerate Vedanta will seek to cut debt by up to $2 billion in the next fiscal as it focuses on generating free cash flow by managing costs and enhancing volumes, chief financial officer Ajay Goel told ET, the Economic Times of India reported. The Anil Agarwal-owned company is also looking at generating operating profit of $7 - $7.5 billion in FY25. "As a company, we have many priorities, but all other priorities remain subservient to the priority of deleveraging," Goel told ET in an exclusive interaction.

Lenders to Byju’s Alpha filed an insolvency petition after the Indian education startup missed payment on a $1.2 billion loan, Bloomberg News reported. The move, announced by creditors in an emailed statement on Thursday, is the latest step in the fight between the startup founded by Byju Raveendran, once valued at $22 billion, and its creditors. Lenders have already taken control of its units in Singapore, while the company is challenging their moves in the US.

Shares in Brazilian airline Gol tumbled on Monday after local newspaper Folha de S.Paulo reported that the company was considering filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States within the next month, Reuters reported. Gol's shares slipped as much as 13% on the report before paring some losses to trade down 8.8%. The carrier was the biggest loser on Brazil's benchmark stock index Bovespa, which was trading near flat.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has admitted men's grooming and personal care firm Supermax Personal Care under the insolvency resolution process and appointed Kshitiz Gupta as the interim resolution professional of the company, the Economic Times of India reported. Mumbai-based Supermax Personal Care is a part of Super-Max Group. It is largely into products such as razors, blades and shaving creams, which it supplies to the market in India and other affiliates of Supermax Group abroad.

India’s inflation accelerated to a four-month high as food prices climbed, justifying the central bank’s caution in keeping interest rates higher for longer, Bloomberg News reported. The consumer price index rose 5.69% in December from a year earlier, statistics ministry data showed Friday. That’s lower with the 5.88% median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists and compares with a 5.55% reading in November.

Jindal Power has proposed to top a bid by Adani Power (ADAN.NS), led by billionaire Gautam Adani, for a thermal power plant, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, as India looks to drum up investment in coal-fired power, Reuters reported. The tussle for the 1,980-megawatt plant in central India, ensnared in insolvency proceedings, comes after the power minister called last November for more private investment to meet a dramatic rise in electricity demand.

Creditors to Gayatri Projects (GPL), promoted by former Rajya Sabha MP T Subbarami Reddy, have voted to initiate liquidation proceedings against the company after rejecting the only bid from private equity fund Mark AB Capital Investment LLC, the Economic Times of India reported. Mark AB was offering a total of ₹650 crore, of which only ₹50 crore was upfront cash, ET had reported in October. It was the only serious offer lenders had received, which has now been rejected because of its low value.

State-owned lenders will soon evaluate the performance of legal firms engaged by them for insolvency and bankruptcy cases, the Economic Times of India reported. The move comes after government expressed concerns over large haircuts and delays in resolution under the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code and directed lenders to build an effective framework for monitoring the progress of legal processes. Since the roll out of IBC in 2016, creditors have recovered 32.6% of their admitted claims against large, stressed firms.

Shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. recovered from a steep plunge on Tuesday after the company said that it was still working to close its planned merger with Sony Group Corp.’s India unit, Bloomberg News reported. The stock, which had lost as much as 13.6% while trading in Mumbai — the lowest level since Feb. 23, recouped bulk of the losses after the company’s exchange filing. It was trading 6.5% lower at 259.95 rupees at 1:58 pm in Mumbai, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was up.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has admitted Canara Bank's application to initiate the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) against Mumbai-based real estate developer Shah Group Builders, the Economic Times of India reported. The bank had moved the bankruptcy court against the developer in 2020 following its default on loans worth nearly ₹100 crore including interest thereon. The account was declared a non-performing (NPA) in December 2016.