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NEW DELHI: The government is considering a formula for distributing the proceeds of insolvency resolution among financial and operational creditors in a fixed proportion, said people with knowledge of the matter. The goal is to protect the interests of operational creditors and reduce delays due to litigation, ensuring that the objective of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) is preserved.
“This is one of the solutions that is being looked at,” an official said. The government will take a final call only after extensive deliberations, he added. Distribution of resolution proceeds has emerged as one of the key factors behind the extended litigation, delaying major insolvency cases. Dissatisfied operational creditors have been the source of such cases in some instances.
The Supreme Court is currently deciding on the distPribution of proceeds in the case of Essar Steel, which entered the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) system in August 2017. The process was thought to have ended when Arcelor Mittal’s Rs 42,000-crore bid for the debt-ridden steel manufacturer was approved in March 2019. But the original promoters, the Ruias, opposed approval of the plan, questioning Arcelor Mittal’s eligibility.
Operational creditors rejected the plan on the grounds of discriminatory treatment. Financial creditor Standard Chartered Bank has also gone to court against the resolution plan on the same grounds. Financial creditors moved the Supreme Court after the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) ordered proportional recovery for both financial and operational creditors.
Under the IBC, cases have to be decided within a 330-day window. Distribution of proceeds is currently decided by the committee of creditors (CoC) consisting of financial creditors. The committees typically set aside about 5% of resolution proceeds for operational creditors, which have 6-7% of total claims against insolvent companies on average, according to a government official.
Source: Economictimes
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