Implement bankruptcy law in time bound manner, Jaitley instructs officials

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday directed senior officials of the ministries of finance and corporate affairs to take steps, including setting up of a board, for the implementation of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) 2016 in a time bound manner.

"Implementation in a time bound manner is very crucial in order achieve the desired goals of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016," Jaitley told senior officials of both the ministries here.

An immediate action is needed on key requirements for implementation of the IBC including setting-up of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI), notifying Rules and Regulations relating to Insolvency Professionals (IPs), Insolvency Professional Agencies (IPAs) and Corporate Insolvency among others, he added. "Jaitley asked the officials of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to notify NCLT Benches to deal with Corporate Insolvency, take action for registration of IPs and IPAs among others," the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 -- notified by the government in May -seeks to consolidate and amend laws relating to reorganisation as well as insolvency resolution of corporate persons, partnership firms and individuals in a time-bound manner. "We have a very tight timeline for implementation of the law. We discussed the roadmap with the Finance Minister," Shaktikanta Das, Secretary of Department of Economic Affairs Secretary told reporters here.

Officials of Reserve Bank of India as well as Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) also attended the meeting. Corporate Affairs Secretary Tapan Ray made a presentation giving the road map for implementing the Code. He highlighted various decisions and actions taken so far by the Corporate Affairs Ministry in this regard. He assured that the implementation of the IBC 2016 will be done in a time bound manner.