India

The Supreme Court on Monday asked Department of Telecom (DoT) to apprise it as how it plans to recover Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) related dues from telecom companies facing insolvency proceedings and whether spectrum given to these companies can be sold, Business Standard reported. DoT told the top court that their stand is that the spectrum cannot be sold by the telecom companies facing insolvency proceedings as it not their property.

Pre-dominance of cash transactions, independence of directors and frequent changes of auditors are among the potential red flags for insolvency professionals in detecting avoidance transactions during insolvency proceedings, according to an IBBI document, ETRealty reported. Under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, resolution professionals and liquidators are required to determine whether corporate debtors concerned were subject to avoidance transactions. The Code provides for a time-bound and market-linked resolution of stressed assets.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has upheld an NCLT order setting aside a plea to initiate insolvency proceedings against Gujarat Ambuja Exports Ltd, Business Standard reported. A three-member NCLAT bench upheld the order of the Ahmedabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), which had set aside the plea of Samay Impex, an operational creditor of Gujarat Ambuja Exports Ltd (GAEL).

The true financial cost of Covid-19 is something India would rather not acknowledge, let alone bear — at least not until the pandemic has played out. That explains why the central bank on Thursday allowed a one-time restructuring of corporate and personal loans that have been under stress ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi put the country under a severe lockdown in March, Bloomberg News reported in a commentary. Those nationwide restrictions have given way to more localized containment. But with India becoming only the third country after the U.S.

Vodafone Idea Ltd., the beleaguered Indian wireless carrier facing a government demand for billions of dollars in back fees, reported an eighth straight quarterly loss and said a court verdict on a staggered payment plan for the dues is critical for survival, Bloomberg News reported. Net loss was 254.6 billion rupees ($3.4 billion) in the three months ended June, the country’s No. 3 mobile phone carrier said Thursday. It took a one-time charge of 194.4 billion rupees for back fees paid.

India’s banking regulator gave lenders power to restructure certain loans, as authorities look to support an economy hit by the pandemic while ensuring the stability of a financial sector where bad-debt is set to swell to a two-decade high, Bloomberg News reported. Ahead of the expiry of a blanket loan moratorium later this month, the Reserve Bank of India said it will permit banks to strike rescheduling agreements with borrowers that were on track to repay their loans on March 1, in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak.

Religare Finvest, which is the NBFC arm of embattled financial services conglomerate Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL), is hopeful of completing its debt restructuring by December this year, The Hindu Business Line reported. “We don’t expect the final restructuring plan to go beyond the third quarter of the year, maybe even earlier than December,” said Nitin Aggarwal, Group CFO, Religare Enterprises Ltd and CEO, Religare Broking, adding that once it is through, the company will be much different.

The Delhi High Court Tuesday sought the Centre’s reply on a plea challenging the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) Ordinance which suspended proceedings against defaults arising on or after March 25 for six months in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Hindu reported. A Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan issued notice to the Ministry of Law and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) seeking their stand by August 31 on the plea, which seeks setting aside of the amendment made in the IBC by the ordinance.

A keenly watched Indian shadow bank insolvency process has been delayed, highlighting how the virus pandemic is impeding the nation’s nascent bankruptcy regime, Bloomberg News reported. Payments to creditors from Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd., whose default in September 2018 triggered a lingering credit crisis in India, are likely to spill over to the financial year beginning April 2021, management said in a call on Monday. It had previously aimed to resolve a bulk of those by this month.

India’s Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) said on Monday it expected to resolve about 57% of its near trillion rupee ($13.35 billion) debt pile even as the pandemic delayed the resolution process in some of the group companies, Reuters reported. About 50% of the debt is expected to be resolved by March 2021, the indebted infrastructure lender’s board said in a progress report, with 18% already addressed as of June end. The board had said in an update in October that it aimed to resolve 50% of the debt by March this year.