Skip to main content

NCLT Bench quashes 75 percent vote requirement

NCLT Bench quashes 75 percent vote requirement
In a trend setting order, the bench here of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has struck down an attempt byagroup of banks to block an insolvency resolution plan by citing the 75 per cent vote share requirement prescribed under Section 30(4) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
The bench of judicial member Rajeshwara Rao Vittanala and technical member Ravikumar Duraisamy approved a one time settlement (OTS) as agreed to by Kamineni Steel &Power,a Hyderabad based corporate debtor, as part of a resolution plan cleared by a group of creditors with 66.67 per cent voting power.
Speaking to Business Standard on the verdict,VK Sajith, an advocate for Indian Bank that had backed the resolution plan, with four other lenders, said the bench had gone beyond only the interests of corporate debtor and corporate creditors, as the plan involved possible rehabilitation of 450 workers.
Indian Overseas Bank, Central Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra, with a combined 29.12 percent voting power, had resisted the resolution plan, citing the 75 per cent vote share clause.
The bench rejected this."The dissenting bankers appear to have been guided by 75 per cent as prescribed under Section 30(4), rather than any policy or Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines in that regard. Section 30(4) merely states that the Resolution Plan may be approved byavote not less than 75 per cent of voting share of the financial creditors.

It did not say whether such percentage is out of the total voting share of the financial creditors or those present during meetings of the respective COC (committee of creditors) of financial creditors.Since the IBC isanew Code and still evolving, the above percentage has to be read with various circulars issued by RBI, regulator for the banking sector,” the bench said ina100page judgement.

The registry was told to sendacopy of the order to the RBI governor.The bench approved the OTS presented by the Resolution Professional, based on the consent of five financial institutions —Indian Bank, JM Financial Asset Reconstruction Company, Allahabad Bank, Andhra Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce.
Kamineni had shut down the operations of its plant in Nalgonda district of Telangana, owing to financial and other difficulties.
The Business Standard, New Delhi, 7th December 2017

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Data storage norm splits digital payments industry

Data storage norm splits digital payments industry  India’s nascent digital payment industry could be thrown into disarray due to the demand by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that all user data be stored within the country, fears an industry grouping, which has termed the decision as “heavy-handed”, even as others, including the country’s largest digital payment provider Paytm, have hailed the move.  In a bid to narrow the growing schism, the industry is planning to send a formal representation to the regulator highlighting its concerns, a top official told ET.  “We are trying to build a consensus on the issue," said the person adding that the representation to the central bank will be ready this week.  RBI on April 6, mandated all payment companies—global and local—to set up data storage facilities within India by October. The stringent six-month deadline has attracted the ire of several sections of the industry that fear it will lead to a disruption of wel...

Sebi to finalise options in commodities today

The Commodity Derivatives Advisory Committee of the Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi) will meet on Friday with senior officials of the latter, to give a final shape to the rules on options trading in commodity futures, beside revising the warehousing norms to ensure good delivery on settlement. The decision taken, after discussing with the advisory committee, will be placed before the regulator’s board, to finalise the regulations. According to knowledgeable sources, three commodities in each segment, agricultural and non- agricultural, have been proposed for introducing options. It appears commodities from the soya and guar segments are preferred in the former. From the non- agri segment, it is likely that gold, silver and crude oil will be finalised. All these These have better liquidity and both the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange and the Multi Commodity Exchange, respectively, will be able to introduce the options. In the equity segments, options ar...

E tailers global warehouses may come under tax net

E tailers  global warehouses may come under tax net Warehouses of e-commerce companies based in countries such as Australia, Japan, Italy,  Spain, the Netherlands, and Russia may not be exempted from paying the income tax in India  once the multilateral instrument (MLI) to prevent base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS)  comes into force. BEPS refers to the reporting framework mooted by the Organisation for Economic  Co-operation and Development (OECD) and signed by over 100 countries, including India, to  prevent exploiting gaps and mismatches in tax rules to shift profits by multinational  companies (MNCs) artificially to low-tax regimes. The representatives of 68 countries on June 7 this year signed an agreement (MLI) in Paris  to amend their tax treaties to bring them in alignment with measures to prevent BEPS.  However, there is still time for synchronising tax treaties with the multilateral  instrument. India has submitte...