Govt approaches NCLAT; seeks additional 270 days to complete resolution for 105 IL&FS group companies

New Delhi: The government has approached the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) seeking additional 270 days to complete resolution process of 105 IL&FS group companies. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has also requested the appellate tribunal to release 55 other entities from moratorium, so that they can discharge their debt obligations. Certain protection and reliefs were granted to the 55 entities through an order passed by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on 15 October, 2018. In addition to the 55 entities, the ministry has also asked the NCLAT to release nine companies from the scope and operation of the October 2018 order, according to an affidavit filed by the ministry with the appellate tribunal. Lalpur Wind Energy, Etesian Urja, Khandke Wind Energy, Ratedi Wind Power, Wind Urja India, Tadas Wind Energy, Kaze Energy, Jharkhand e-Governance solutions Services and Infrastructure Development Corporation of Assam are the nine companies. [caption id=“attachment_5309041” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Image courtesy: IL&FS[/caption] “For the remaining 105 domestic group entities, extend the scope and operation of the order passed by this tribunal on October 15, 2018 for an additional period of 270 days from the date on which the resolution framework is approved by this tribunal, to enable the new board to successfully complete the resolution of IL&FS Group,” as per the affidavit. Passing an interim order on 15 October, 2018, the NCLAT had stayed all proceedings against IL&FS group companies, whose total debt is Rs 94,215 crore. Besides, the MCA has asked to approve the composition of the Creditors’ Committee of five SPVs of IL&FS Transportation Networks (ITNL) constituted in accordance with the resolution framework, which includes all financial creditors, including IL&FS group companies that have provided the financial debt. It has also asked NCLAT to “direct that voting by the Creditors’ Committee of these 5 ITNL Sale SPVs be held expeditiously to consider and vote on the H1 bid value and that the New Board may be permitted to proceed with the resolution process of these 5 ITNL Sale SPVs under the supervision of Justice D K Jain and NCLT”. According to the affidavit, IL&FS has an aggregate debt of Rs 94,215 crore, in which Rs 10,173 crore (around 10.79 percent) is collected from public fund creditors as pension funds, provident funds, employee welfare funds, gratuity funds, and army group insurance funds, etc. Rs 44,075 crore debt, which is 47 percent, is collected from the commercial banks, the affidavit said. Moreover, the aggregate debt of its four key holding companies—Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS), IL&FS Financial Services, IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd (ITNL) and IL&FS Energy Development Company Ltd (IEDCL)—is almost 51 percent, which is Rs 48,000 crore. Besides, these four companies also provided loans to other IL&FS group entities accounts to Rs 26,154 crore, which is around 80 per cent of the total loan provided by the group. According to the government, in the absence of any group insolvency framework currently existing under Indian law, the resolution of the IL&FS group, which is spread across multiple jurisdictions and business verticals, is a taste case for “Group Insolvency” in India and represents a “watershed moment” in the relatively recent and evolving IBC laws. IL&FS group comprised of 302 entities, of which 169 entities are incorporated in India and 133 entities outside.