NCLT admits SBI plea against second Videocon company
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has admitted the insolvency petition filed by State Bank of India (SBI) against Videocon Telecommunications Ltd (VTL). This is the second company promoted by Venugopal Dhoot that got admitted to the insolvency resolution process after the flagship company Videocon Industries.
On Friday, the division bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Mumbai, presided over by BSV Prakash Kumar and Ravikumar Duraisamy, admitted the petition by the country’s largest lender and also approved Anuj Jain as interim resolution professional (IRP).
Animesh Bisht, counsel for the bank, argued that the company has defaulted in the payment of ₹234 crore to SBI and three of its associate banks (now merged with SBI). Of this, VTL owes ₹193 crore to SBI alone in principal and interest.
A consortium of 18 banks has an exposure of ₹1,700 crore to VTL, which defaulted on loans and bank guarantees in January 2018.
Zal Andhyarujina, counsel for VTL, argued that the bank’s petition is defective as it has not furnished the record of default by the company and that it should be dismissed on technical grounds.
“The debt that is claimed by the bank is not the debt at all. Furthermore, no notice was given to the company regarding the default and there was no crystallisation of the dues by the bank,” argued Andhyarujina.
On Wednesday, NCLT had admitted the group’s flagship company Videocon Industries’s case, also approving Anuj Jain as IRP.
In February, Videocon had filed a writ petition in Bombay High Court asking for a stay on bankruptcy proceedings initiated by SBI in NCLT. Videocon had moved the high court against the Reserve Bank of India’s decision not to extend the timeline as requested by SBI and the Joint Lenders’ Forum to re-rate Videocon’s restructuring proposal following changes in cash flows after subsequent changes in the import duty policy.
According to Videocon’s FY17 annual report, the company is liable to repay the liability of other group companies to the extent of ₹5,082 crore as of March 31, 2017. The company’s total debt stood at ₹19,506 crore as of March last year.
MUMBAI: