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.
IBC has been revolutionary in many ways and is a formidable instrument for stress resolution. And despite the room for improvement, the overall effectiveness of IBC in the distress space is unmatched, notes Saloni Kothari.
Sanjeev Gupta of Liberty House, a global supplier of metals and engineering solutions, who has emerged front-runner for a number of stressed companies, plans to fund a string of companies through a mix of equity and debt.
US lenders on Tuesday said that the Delaware Supreme Court ruling has affirmed that Byju's defaulted on Term Loan B while the edtech firm asserted that it has no impact on legal proceedings going on in India. Byju's US-based lenders on Tuesday said the Delaware Supreme Court (SC) in its September 23 order affirmed the previous ruling by the Delaware Court of Chancery and said an event of default had occurred under the credit agreement and entitled Byju's lenders and their administrative agent, GLAS Trust, for action against the company.
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.
Insolvency appellate tribunal NCLAT on Tuesday upheld the resolution plan of grounded carrier Jet Airways and approved the transfer of its ownership to Jalan Kalrock Consortium. The NCLAT bench has directed the Jet Airways monitoring committee to complete the transfer of ownership within 90 days. Besides, it has also directed the lenders of Jet Airways to adjust the Rs 150 crore paid by the consortium as performance bank guarantee.
The new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code has serious drawbacks, finds out Somasekhar Sundaresan.
Byju's first came on board with the BCCI back in 2019 when mobile manufacturer Oppo transferred the sponsorship rights to the online tutorial firm.
In what could result in a complete overhaul of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), the insolvency regulator has sought public comments on the regulations it notified under the code to date. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has given a window of eight months ending December 31 to all stakeholders to share their views on its regulations. IBBI has called the exercise "crowdsourcing of ideas".
'We can hope to see a lot of creation of jobs in the days to come.'
WazirX lost about 45 per cent of its crypto assets to the security breach. People privy to the discussions say North Korea has been mentioned.
Larger firms feel that the smaller players have muddied the waters for the IBC process, leading to excessive regulation of resolution Professionals.
Resolving the crisis will require a 'very long and step-by-step process' involving budget restructuring, restoring confidence in financial markets, improving competitiveness and other measures, she said on Tuesday after a meeting with Finland Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen in Berlin.
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.
Patanjali Foods has been served a show cause notice by the GST intelligence department, asking the company to explain why input tax credit worth Rs 27.46 crore should not be recovered from it. The yoga guru Ramdev-led Patanjali Ayurved Group firm, which is mainly into the edible oil business, has received the notice from the Directorate General of GST Intelligence, Chandigarh Zonal Unit, according to a regulatory filing made by the company on April 26.
Edtech company Byju's, which was once India's most valuable start-up worth an estimated $22 billion, will face insolvency proceedings for failure to pay Rs 158.9 crore to cricket board BCCI. The Bengaluru bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Tuesday allowed bankruptcy proceedings against the firm and appointed an interim resolution professional, suspending the company's board of directors and freezing its assets.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal on Friday issued notices to Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd (ZEEL) over the petitions filed by IDBI Bank and AXIS Finance against an NCLT order that approved the media company's merger with Culver Max Entertainment. However, a two-member NCLAT bench comprising chairman Justice Ashok Bhushan and Member Arun Baroka declined to grant any stay over the merger process during the pendency of the hearing. The appellate tribunal (NCLAT) has directed to list both petitions on January 8 for hearing, directing Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd to file a reply.
'Just look at China: They have five or six major airlines and some smaller ones.'
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.
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.
'One of the aspects for transparency and fair governance is to give the industry being represented the chance of lobbying with the regulator.'
SpiceJet on Tuesday said it has expressed interest to acquire Go First and plans to submit its offer after carrying out due diligence of the bankrupt carrier. Go First, which stopped flying since May 3 amid financial woes mainly triggered by Pratt & Whitney engine issues, is undergoing an insolvency resolution process.
Jet Airways CEO-designate Sanjiv Kapoor has quit the grounded airline, according to a source. He had joined the airline as the chief executive officer in April last year. The source said that Friday was the last working day for Kapoor at the airline.
The Euro Zone heads of state and government had agreed at that meeting to expand the group's financial bailout fund from the present level of Euro 440 billion to around Euro 750 billion and to give new powers to the fund to buy sovereign bonds of cash-strapped member nations and to intervene much early to avert a debt crisis.
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.
Aviation Working Group (AWG), a global aviation leasing body comprising major planemakers and lessors, on Monday further downgraded India as lessors have not been able to repossess their planes from Go First more than four months after the airline filed for insolvency. The leasing cost stands as a prominent expense for Indian airlines. With AWG's downgrade, it is likely that lessors will increase the aircraft leasing rates for Indian carriers.
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.
Aviation regulator DGCA will conduct an audit of Go First's preparedness before approving resumption of flights by the crisis-hit carrier, according to a communication. Cash-strapped Go First stopped flying from May 3 and is undergoing voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings. On Tuesday, a senior official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said the airline has submitted its response to the regulator's show cause notice indicating that it is working on the details of a plan to resume flights at the earliest.
Go First chief executive officer Kaushik Khona and tribunal-appointed interim resolution professional Abhilash Lal on Thursday reached out to the airline's staff, seeking their support for revival. While Khona said the company had taken all steps for the airline's revival, Lal put forward the view it would have to raise funds. Employee engagement took place a day after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted the airline's insolvency plea on Wednesday and ordered a moratorium on recoveries.
Byju Raveendran, the founder and chief executive officer of the beleaguered edtech firm Byju's, said the company credited all pending January salaries to employees over the past few days. This was communicated to the employees in another letter sent on February 4. Byju's has about 15,000 employees. "I know you were told that you would get your salaries by Monday.
Go First CEO Kaushik Khona on Wednesday described the NCLT's decision to admit the airline's plea for voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings as a "landmark judgement" that is very timely and effective for its revival. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has appointed Abhliash Lal as interim resolution professional (IRP) to run the debt-ridden company. Besides, the tribunal has imposed a moratorium on the company and has suspended its board of directors.
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.
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.
The financial creditor had approached district authorities in Raigad to take possession of ND Studio a few months ago.
The creditors of the grounded carrier Jet Airways on Wednesday raised questions over the source of Rs 200 crore deposited by the Jalan-Kalrock Consortium before the insolvency appellate tribunal NCLAT and said it does not align with the resolution plan. Additional Solicitor General N Venkataraman, representing lenders including SBI and other banks, told the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) that there are apprehensions about the source of funds, which deposited money for Jalan-Kalrock Consortium's (JKC). "The payment is not compliant with the resolution plan as it mandates that the money is to be paid through JKC," ASG submitted before a three-member NCLAT bench headed by chairperson Justice Ashok Bhushan.
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed Jalan-Kalrock consortium, the new owners of the cash-strapped Jet Airways, to deposit Rs 150 crore in SBI's escrow account by January 31, saying failure to do so will mean that the consortium is not in compliance with the terms of the resolution plan for reviving the airline. The top court, meanwhile, also refused to allow the separate plea of the Jet Aircraft Maintenance Engineers Welfare Association seeking payment of provident fund and gratuity dues, observing if additional money is awarded, the resolution plan will become "unworkable". The consortium, as per the lawyers for the workmen, has to pay over Rs 200 crore towards dues on account of PF and gratuity.
Jet Airways CEO-designate Sanjiv Kapoor on Monday said the new management does not want to be "in a rush" to restart operations while asserting that the airline will be unique and different. The ownership transfer of the airline under the insolvency resolution plan is facing hurdles over differences between the winning bidder and lenders. "We don't want to be in a rush," Kapoor said.
Central Bank of India classified its loans to Go First as non-performing assets (NPAs) in the July-September quarter (second quarter, or Q2) of 2023-24 (FY24). The no-frills carrier has been under insolvency proceedings since May 2023 and ceased operating flights on May 3 this year. The public sector lender's exposure, including government-guaranteed emergency credit to the ailing airline, amounts to about Rs 2,000 crore.
