India’s insolvency laws have moved from a complex, debtor-friendly system to a simpler, creditor-focused approach with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). The 2026 Amendment Act builds on the 2016 IBC to fix problems like delays and misuse, aiming for quicker and more effective resolutions.
The Old Insolvency Regime
In my earlier piece for Business Day and TimesLIVE (read here) last year, I argued that South Africa’s insolvency framework, from the enduring Insolvency Act of 1936 to the Companies Act’s business rescue provisions and the Cross-Border Insolvency Act of 2000, gives us genuine reason for pride.
In Re USUM Investment Group Ltd[2026] HKCFI 1320, the Hong Kong Companies Court delivered a landmark judgment concerned with “novel and important questions as to whether the court has power to recognize a restructuring approved by a foreign court and, if so, the extent of such assistance”.
Introduction
Introduction
A. Introduction
The Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency (“Model Law”) was adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNICITRAL) in 1997. It was designed to assist countries in equipping their insolvency laws with a modernised and harmonised legal framework to effectively address cross-border insolvency and restructuring cases.
Introduction
The Cross-Border Insolvency Bill 2025 ("Bill") passed its first reading on 28 July 2025 in the Dewan Rakyat. The Bill has since passed its second and third reading in the Dewan Rakyat on 29 July 2025. The legislation aims to align Malaysia with the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency ("Model Law"), establishing a clear legal framework for managing multi-jurisdictional corporate insolvency cases.
Background and Legislative Intent
This is the story of the first Indian insolvency proceeding to be granted recognition by the Singapore Court under the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency (“Model Law”). This recognition, besides facilitating the challenging cross-border asset recovery, has also opened the doors for deeper insolvency cooperation between India and Singapore.
Given the increased intertwining of national economies, cross-border insolvency presents salient legal and financial difficulty. Upon the existence of an insolvent debtor in more than one country, the necessity to deal with assets and/or creditors creates very complicated jurisdictional problems and other legal issues. Most of the time, a company will operate in several jurisdictions and hence face very complicated transnational insolvency scenarios.