Reliance Naval Insolvency case: No merit in IFCI’s plea says company

Reliance Naval and Engineering Ltd, a subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, on Thursday said there are no merits in the application filed by IFCI Ltd before the National Company Law Tribunal as it is an unsecured creditor.

Today, Cogencis had exclusively reported that IFCI Ltd has filed an insolvency petition against Reliance Naval and Engineering Ltd before the Ahmedabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal. "The 25 secured lenders of the company (Reliance Naval) have also requested IFCI that the matter be resolved outside the NCLT," the company told the exchanges.

IFCI has also filed an insolvency case against Reliance Marine and Offshore Ltd, a subsidiary of Reliance Naval and Engineering. Reliance Naval has defaulted on repayment of dues of up to Rs 621.3 million to IFCI as on March 31, information on the infrastructure company's website showed.

As of March 31, Reliance Naval has Rs 3.4 billion of loans and interest overdue to its lenders. The company's total debt is Rs 90.2 billion. The NCLT has set the next date for hearing on December 8, as per information on the tribunal's website. In its last hearing on Monday, the tribunal had given Reliance Naval one week time to file its objections to the petition.

The shares of Reliance Naval and Engineering declined 3 per cent following the news and those of Reliance Infrastructure fell nearly 2 per cent.