Mahesh Bhupathi, Lara Dutta file insolvency case against Gitanjali Gems
MUMBAI: Tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi and his wife, actor Lara Dutta, have filed an insolvency petition against jewellery manufacturer Gitanjali Gems Ltd. The celebrity couple endorse the Gitanjali brand.
The case was listed for hearing before the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal on Wednesday.
“Both the brand ambassadors have a two-year contract with the company for public appearances. During the tenure of the contract there were some cancellations for which the company did not pay its dues to the celebrity couple,” said a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
Mahesh Bhupathi’s counsel Aagam J Doshi and a Gitanjali Gems spokesperson declined to comment. Mint could not ascertain the pending dues for which Bhupathi and Dutta initiated insolvency proceedings against the firm under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
Gitanjali Gems had debt of ₹7,185 crore at the end of September. The company had reported a net profit of ₹63.8 crore for the September quarter, an increase of 41% from a year ago.
At least 400 companies are currently undergoing resolution under the insolvency and bankruptcy code.
According to a study of 515 cases by Bhargavi Zaveri of the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, about one in every two petitions has been filed by operational creditors (such as suppliers and distributors).
Some unique cases of vendors taking to companies to insolvency include a stock exchange, public relations (PR) firm and advertising firms.
On December 13, BSE Ltd filed petitions against firms that have failed to pay their annual listing fees. The exchange has identified 130 such companies and it has already filed insolvency proceedings against seven firms.
Fortuna Public Relations Pvt, a public relations firm, filed a case against Reliance Communications Ltd seeking to clear dues of ₹43 lakh.
Jigsaw Solutions, an advertising agency, had moved NCLT against Stayzilla, an online homestay aggregator, on September 7.
The insolvency petition, now admitted by NCLT, claimed that Stayzilla had defaulted on paying dues of ₹1.69 crore.