India

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) at Kolkata on Tuesday, February 20, allowed insolvency proceedings against a 104-year-old company for failure to clear dues of over Rs 4 crore, according to a report on barandbench.com. The case involves the Ahmedabad-based private construction firm Chevrox Construction Pvt. Ltd against state-owned Bridge and Roof Co (India) Ltd. Bridge and Roof is a public sector enterprise (PSU) under the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and comes under the administrative control of the Ministry of Heavy Industries.

The National Company Law Tribunal on Tuesday extended the deadline for another 60 days to complete the resolution process of grounded airline Go First, Zee Business reported. A two-member bench of the Delhi-based NCLT admitted the plea filed by the resolution professional (RP) of Go First seeking an extension of the timeline to complete the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP). Diwakar Maheshwari, appearing for RP, argued that so far three parties have submitted their expression of interest for Go First and deposited the earnest money.

The five-member monitoring committee set up to oversee the Jaypee Infratech insolvency process has moved the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking an appropriate direction for the smooth and effective implementation of the resolution plan that was approved in March 2023, the Hindustan Times reported. “…IMC has filed an application with Hon’ble NCLT, Principal Bench, New Delhi seeking appropriate directions affecting the smooth and effective implementation of Resolution Plan approved vide order dated 07.03.2023,” the company said in a regulatory filing.

Visa said on Wednesday that the Reserve Bank of India, which is also the country's financial market regulator, had directed it last week to halt all domestic transactions for business payment solution providers (BPSPs), Reuters reported. BPSPs facilitate business-to-business card payments made to non-card-accepting vendors or suppliers. The RBI's directive will not impact all commercial card payments but only those intermediated by BPSPs. Visa, the world's largest payments processor, did not say why the RBI has issued the directive.

The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has admitted Sporta Technologies, which owns India’s largest fantasy sports platform Dream11, under the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) on an application filed by the resolution professional of Reward Solutions, the Economic Times of India reported. The tribunal appointed Madan Bajrang Lal Vaishnawa as the interim resolution professional to conduct the insolvency resolution process.

The bankruptcy court has approved a proposal from a consortium comprising Shri Dutt India Pvt Ltd and Shri Dutt Biofuels Pvt Ltd to acquire Indian Sugar Manufacturing Company Ltd, the Economic Times of India reported. The consortium has offered to pay Rs 175 crore to acquire the company which has total admitted liabilities of Rs 523 crore. All the lenders of Indian Sugar Manufacturing had earlier approved the proposal.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has dismissed a petition filed by Ashdan Properties against Chemhub Tradelink's committee of creditors-approved resolution plan for Pancard Clubs. Ashdan was one of the three bidders interested in acquiring the bankrupt Pancard, which develops and operates hotels and resorts, the Economic Times of India reported. Pancard Clubs has more than 1.5 million timeshare subscribers, who are classified as financial creditors.

The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal has ordered the liquidation of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi-promoted firm Gitanjali Gems. The tribunal has also appointed Santanu T Ray as the liquidator, the Economic Times of India reported. The company was originally admitted under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) in October 2018. It has admitted liabilities of over Rs 12,558 crore.

India’s central bank stuck to its hawkish policy stance on Thursday as inflation remains well above its target, suggesting it’s in no hurry to cut interest rates until later in the year, Bloomberg News reported. The Monetary Policy Committee voted five-to-one to keep the benchmark repurchase rate at 6.5%, a move predicted by all of the 42 economists in a Bloomberg survey. The panel also decided to retain its policy stance at “withdrawal of accommodation,” disappointing some analysts who had predicted a shift to neutral.

Tech-stock valuations in the U.S. are beginning to look rich again. One likely consequence is the U.S. tech frenzy starting to spread to certain emerging markets, the Wall Street Journal reported. It is probably a good thing, then, that global investors are getting a timely reminder of what can happen when they rush into what looks like the next big thing without doing their homework.