Among manufacturing companies that went to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), chemicals and metal firms witnessed more resolutions while companies in the labour intensive (employment friendly) leather and textile sectors mostly get liquidated, reports Abhishek Waghmare.
Bankers say there is palpable fear among erring promoters that the banking system just cannot be taken for granted, and any delay in loan repayment could mean promoters losing business
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has lifted the restriction to allow the same insolvency professional for the resolution process of a company as well as its personal guarantor for a better harmonisation and effective coordination of both processes. The changes made to IBBI - Bankruptcy Process for Personal Guarantors to Corporate Debtors, Regulations, 2019 -- came into effect on January 31. IBBI has also amended the provision regarding the meetings of the Committee of Creditors to make them mandatory in insolvency matters about personal guarantors.
This is being done keeping in mind the urgency of these transactions, and it would help the ongoing insolvency cases, including the 12 accounts referred by RBI to banks.
The cut-off date the RBI chose was March 1, 2018. This meant that by the end of August if these accounts were not resolved, then they would have to proceed through insolvency.
'It would be reasonable to assume that Modi 3.0 would be more focused on projects and schemes which do not require any legislative change or which have the support of its coalition partners,' asserts A K Bhattacharya.
The first of a two-part series explores how the proceedings under the IBC have taken off and whether the code is helping banks recover their unpaid loans
Essar group, Bhushan Steel and JSW group likely to be impacted by changes
Benches of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) should not get into questioning a company's default once it is established by the creditors, particularly financial creditors, for admission to the corporate insolvency process. This is one of the key themes of the draft guidelines for the NCLT, which are being finalised by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), a senior official said. According to the official, while the company law matters could involve the "principle of natural justice" and justify extended proceedings to hear all parties concerned, the same does not apply to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) proceedings.
The initiation of IBC proceedings in respect of a debtor has certain drastic consequences on both day-to-day running of the business of a debtor and on all creditors generally.
Grounded Go First's CEO Kaushik Khona has put in his papers, nearly seven months after the no-frills airline filed for insolvency proceedings. In an e mail to the airline's employees on Thursday, Khona said that November 30 is his last day at the company. Khona had returned to Go First in August 2020 as its CEO.
So far, among the IBC cases, SBI has been able to recover Rs 8,500 crore from Tata Steel's acquisition of Bhushan Steel. Another Rs 1,500 crore is in an escrow account on account of Electrosteel Steels.
The Resolution Professional (RP) of Future Retail Ltd (FRL) has filed an application before the NCLT against Kishore Biyani, his brother Rakesh Biyani and eight other entities alleging their involvement in a "fraudulent transaction" in the company. This application "has been filed pursuant to the findings in the report received from Nangia & Co. LLP, which was appointed as 'Transaction Review Auditor' by the RP," said a regulatory filing from Future Retail Ltd (FRL). The Transaction Review Auditor was to assist RP in his duties and the determination, wherein a transaction has been reported under Section 66 of the Code for adjudication by the NCLT.
The government is planning to draft rules for the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to deal with Insolvency and Bankruptcy (IBC) cases, according to official sources. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) is also looking to fill all vacant posts at various NCLT Benches by August and put in place an IT-enabled system that would use artificial intelligence (AI) for case management. The NCLT, adjudicating authority for matters related to company affairs, was constituted before the IBC came into effect.
Experts say that under the liquidation process, financial and operational creditors are less likely to recover the full-value of their dues, while employees may not get their full salaries.
With assets depreciating over time, it will lead to large haircuts for lenders and creditors, say experts
If they are made accountable, bad loan cases will shrink dramatically, recoveries will rise, and the NCLT process will be more manageable, asserts Debashis Basu.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Wednesday admitted Go First's voluntary plea to initiate the insolvency resolution process against the airline. A two-member bench comprising President Justice Ramalingam Sudhakar and L N Gupta also appointed Abhliash Lal as interim resolution professional (IRP) to run the debt-ridden company. It has also put the company under protection of moratorium and directed the suspended board of directors to assist the IRP to run the company during insolvency proceedings.
Insolvency tribunal NCLT on Wednesday rejected Go First lessors' petitions to take back the planes leased to the grounded airline, and said the aircraft are available for resumption of operations since aviation regulator DGCA has not deregistered them. A two-member bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) held that physical possession of the aircraft/engines would be "indisputably" with Go First and lessors cannot claim possession during the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) of the carrier. According to the tribunal, aircraft and its engines are the sole essence of Go First's business and if taken away, it would result in its "corporate death" leaving no scope for its resolution.
False and acrimonious debates such as Modi versus Manmohan might allow for victories that are political and partisan. But the real loser is the nation, India and Bharat, notes Arvind Subramanian, former chief economic advisor to the Modi government in its first term.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) is contemplating an increase to the existing strength of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) benches to handle the growing case load. The ministry is currently analysing the time taken by each bench to dispose of matters and the total number of cases being handled by each bench. "We need to first determine our requirement, given that the NCLT handles both Company Act and insolvency and bankruptcy matters. "The latter constitutes the majority of the case burden.
Once the bankruptcy provisions are notified, these proprietary firms will benefit, as Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board plans to consider them as individuals
The Delhi high court on Friday directed the civil aviation regulator to deregister planes leased to Go First within five working days, giving respite to the lessors. This means that the airline will have to give back all 54 aircraft to the lessors if its resolution professional (RP) does not challenge the order or ask for a stay. Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju also refused the request of the RP, represented by advocate Diwakar Maheshwari, to keep the operation of the order in abeyance for a week to enable them to file an appeal before the division Bench of the court.
In 2009, ArcelorMittal had picked up a stake in Uttam Galva Steels. A new Section 29A of the IBC prohibits promoters of companies with NPAs of more than a year from bidding for these companies.
Future Retail, once the crown jewel of Kishore Biyani-led Future Group, is now heading for liquidation as its lenders could not get any reasonable buyer of the debt-ridden firm. As the Committee of Creditors (CoC) rejected the sole resolution plan submitted by Space Mantra after four extensions in the deadline to complete the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP), the RP of the company has now approached NCLT to initiate liquidation of Future Retail (FRL). "The resolution plan submitted by Space Mantra Private has not been approved by CoC of FRL, kindly note that, the Resolution Professional (RP) has filed an application, before the National Company Law Tribunal, Mumbai Bench, for initiation of liquidation of FRL," said a regulatory filing from FRL.
Crisis-hit Go First has sought various interim directions from the National Company Law Tribunal, including restraining lessors from taking back aircraft and regulator DGCA from taking any adverse action against the airline. The Wadia group-owned airline, which has liabilities worth Rs 11,463 crore, has sought voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings and the plea is set to be heard by the Delhi bench of the NCLT on Thursday. Go First has cancelled all its flights for three days starting from May 3.
No-frills carrier Go First filing for insolvency proceedings and cancelling flights is bad for the airline industry as the move will reduce capacity and could push airfares in certain routes, travel agents' grouping TAAI said on Wednesday.
'In real estate project insolvency, no one size can fit all.'
'The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code is neither beneficial to banks nor helpful for the borrower.' 'Genuine people who are caught in economic stagnation will lose everything and thousands will lose jobs.'
The insolvency process of debt-ridden Reliance Capital Ltd (RCL) on Tuesday hit a roadblock as the NCLT Mumbai has stayed the resolution process on the plea of Torrent Group. The stay order was issued by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) as the Ahmedabad-based Torrent Group challenged the revised bid from Hinduja Group, sources said. Torrent Group, which emerged as the highest bidder with an Rs 8,640 crore offer, had moved the NCLT-Mumbai against Hinduja Group's late revised bid, which it had submitted after the completion of the e-auction process on December 21.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has dismissed an operational creditor's petition to initiate insolvency proceedings against Wipro Ltd. A two-member Chennai bench of the appellate tribunal held earlier that there was a pre-existing dispute over the payment between Wipro and the petitioner and observed that the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code was not framed for being a "mere recovery legislation for creditors". The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has upheld the order of the NCLT.
The NCLT has granted Future Retail Ltd (FRL) an extension of 90 days for concluding the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) of the company. Allowing FRL's plea the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has extended the deadline to July 15, 2023, for concluding the CIRP of FRL. "... NCLT on April 13, 2023, heard the application and granted the said exclusion of 90 days from CIRP of FRL and consequent extension for completion of CIRP till July 15, 2023," said a regulatory filing from the company.
To tackle increasing demand, the Union Ministry of Power has urged central and state public-sector power-generating companies (gencos) and state power and energy departments to pick projects that are undergoing insolvency proceedings. The power ministry is looking at a quicker turnaround of these stressed power plants and enhancing power supply. Increasing demand is pushing states to scout for more power sources. "It is requested that state-owned gencos may be encouraged to participate in the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) of stressed power assets, which are of strategic and commercial significance to the capacity addition plans of the states concerned.
Even though the powers of the board of directors stand suspended once a company's insolvency process begins, it does not absolve the directors from actions taken up to two years earlier.
Apart from being the most successful cases under the IBC, Bhushan Steel and Essar Steel are among the best steel assets in the country. They also ended up helping their lenders get back a significant chunk of the money while allowing Tata Steel to consolidate its position and giving the world's two largest steel makers - ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel - a strong foothold in India. A significant contrast was the pace at which these two cases were resolved under the bankruptcy code. In the annals of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), Essar Steel may go down in history as the most noticeable resolution with the world's largest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal, and the incumbent, Ruia family, locked in an intense battle spanning more than two years and ultimately resulting in full recovery of the principal amount for the financial creditors.
Assuming we still have a Modi-led majority government after May 2024, there is no guarantee that reforms will move at anything more than a snail's pace, though we must be thankful even for that, notes R Jagannathan.
We must stop stigmatising business failures. Particularly when startups are mushrooming all around, the financial system, backed by the RBI and the government, can explore ways of extending support to restart the journey of a failed entrepreneur by finance as well as counselling, recommends Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Banks' bad loans might cross Rs 10 lakh crore by the end of this fiscal, mainly on account of slippages in retail and MSME sectors, a study said on Tuesday. "NPAs are expected to rise to 8.5-9 per cent by March 2022, driven by slippages in retail, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) accounts, besides some restructured assets," the study by industry body Assocham and ratings firm Crisil said. The study titled 'Reinforcing the Code' said the Gross Non-Performing Assets (GNPAs) of banks are expected to cross Rs 10 lakh crore by March 2022.
The Reserve Bank on Thursday proposed tighter norms for treatment of wilful defaulters under which banks and other lenders will be required to examine all accounts with outstanding amount of Rs 25 lakh and more to see if the borrower is deliberately not repaying the loan. The central bank has issued a 'Draft Master Direction on Treatment of Wilful Defaulters and Large Defaulters' on which comments have been invited till October 31. According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the draft Master Direction expands the scope for regulated entities which can classify borrowers as wilful defaulters and broadens the definition of wilful default.
Seeking ArcelorMittal be declared ineligible to bid for Essar Steel, the petition cited Section 29A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code which bars promoters of defaulting companies from bidding for stressed assets.
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