India

Promoters, managing directors and chairmen, who stand as personal guarantors to corporate loans, can also be proceeded against before the company law tribunal if their firms are unable to repay debts, ruled the Indian Supreme Court on Friday as it declared “legal and valid” a November 15, 2019, notification issued by the Union government under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), the Hindustan Times reported. “It is held that the impugned notification was issued within the power granted by Parliament, and in valid exercise of it.

India’s Oyo Hotels is looking to raise $600 million in debt to bolster its finances after a fresh coronavirus surge decimated travel demand and hurt the company’s recovery effort, Bloomberg News reported. The board of Oyo, or Oravel Stays Pvt as the parent company is officially called, approved a plan for an institutional term loan at meetings over Wednesday and Thursday. Oyo is one of the larger startups in Softbank Group Corp.’s portfolio and its headlong global expansion was backed and fostered by the investor’s billionaire founder, Masayoshi Son.

Suraksha Asset Reconstruction Company, one of the two bidders for Jaypee Infratech under the insolvency procedure, has called upon the troubled real estate developer’s creditors and insolvency resolution professional (IRP) to follow a “fair and unbiased process”, a day before they meet to consider the resolution proposals, the Economic Times reported.

The tribunal has also allowed the FHRAI to make its oral submissions on June 2, 2021. The total claims registered with Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) against OYO are to the tune of Rs 200 crore, it added, the Economic Times reported. Earlier on April 8, OYO had said that the NCLAT had ordered a stay on the formation of a committee of creditors in proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code against its subsidiary OYO Hotels and Homes Pvt Ltd (OHHPL).

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has shot down suggestions of a fresh suspension of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC) due to the second wave of Covid-19, while making it clear that banks can still restructure distressed but viable loans, ensuring that their balance sheets remain transparent, the Times of India reported. During initial discussions with the government, RBI has indicated a freeze will not help anyone in the long run as it will only show lower level of non-performing assets (NPAs), government sources told TOI.

Go Airlines India Ltd., a no-frills carrier controlled by the Wadia Group, has sought approval from India’s markets regulator to raise as much as 36 billion rupees ($490 million) through an initial public offering, Bloomberg News reported. The company may consider a pre-IPO share issue of as much as 15 billion rupees, the airline said in its prospectus Friday, adding the IPO size will be cut if the pre-IPO placement happens. Go Airlines, the second biggest customer for Airbus SE, is planning to use the proceeds for repayment of debt, and dues to Indian Oil Corp.

The dedicated bankruptcy court has admitted the insolvency petition against Cox & Kings Financial Services Limited (CKFSL) and appointed Pardeep Kumar Sethi as interim resolution professional (IRP) for the company, the Economic Times of India reported. YES Bank had approached the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) after the company defaulted on its dues of over Rs 445 crore.

The National Company Law Tribunal’s (NCLT) Delhi bench has appointed an Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) to start a Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) against Ahluwalia Contracts (India) Ltd., the Hindu Business Line reported. This follows a prayer moved by New Delhi-based A2 Interiors Products Pvt Ltd, alleging pending payments of ₹14.10 crore for various civil and electrical works done for the Ahluwalia Contracts, a civil contractor in the construction industry.

India’s airlines are under renewed pressure to raise cash or face the risk of having to downsize, consolidate or have their planes repossessed by lessors as a surge of COVID-19 infections roils travel, Reuters reported. Passenger traffic fell by nearly 30% in April from a month before and has halved again so far in May, forcing even the country's biggest and most cashed-up carrier, IndiGo, to act.