NCLT TO RULE ON JYOTI STRUCTURES INSOLVENCY CASE ON MONDAY

MUMBAI: The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) will rule on the first of the twelve cases that were referred by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for insolvency and bankruptcy on Monday.

The tribunal reserved the order on Thursday after it heard the insolvency application filed by State Bank of India (SBI) against power distribution company Jyoti Structures Ltd.

SBI, which is the lead banker, had on Tuesday filed the bankruptcy case against Jyoti Structures with the Tribunal, following a central bank directive. On June 13, RBI had directed banks to refer 12 troubled companies with a combined debt of close to ₹2.5 lakh crore to the NCLT.

Counsel for Jyoti Structures did not raise any objections on the debt and insolvency proceedings when the matter was being heard by the Tribunal but highlighted that they have an offer from a prospective buyer.

“A proposal from a prospective buyer is in the offing therefore we request that the bankers should consider this and table the proposal before the Insolvency Resolution Professional (IRP) once the insolvency proceedings start,” said Amit Vyas, counsel for Jyoti Structures.

As per an Economic Times report on June 27, consulting firm BDO India will manage Jyoti Structures.

At the end of March 2017, the company had debt of ₹3,387.25 crore. Jyoti Structures was one of the companies hit by problems in the power sector arising from the lack of fuel linkages or problems in land acquisition.

Lenders invoked RBI’s Strategic Debt Restructuring (SDR) norms in 2015 and restructured the debt outside the provisions of SDR. Since then, banks have been trying to sell their 51% stake in the company with no success.