Electrosteel bankruptcy: NCLT appoints interim resolution

Allowing the plea of consortium of lenders led by SBI, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Friday appointed interim resolution professional (IRP) to carry forward bankruptcy proceedings against Electrosteel Steels Ltd.

The Kolkata bench of NCLT appointed Dhaivat Anjaria as IRP for ascertaining the particulars and convene a committee of creditors for evolving the resolution plan of the creditors.

"The petition filed by the financial creditors under section 7 of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016 is admitted for initiating the corporate resolution process and declare a moratorium and public announcement," said NCLT.

NCLT's order came over the petition filed by bankers led by SBI against Electrosteel Steels under section 7 of IBC.

Consortium leader SBI had last month initiated insolvency proceedings before NCLT against Kolkata-based Electrosteel Steels to recover Rs 10,000 crore in loans as bankers tighten screws on big corporate defaulters.

The company had said in a regulatory filing that State Bank of India has initiated the corporate insolvency resolution process and filed the documents with NCLT, Kolkata, against it under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016.

The action follows the meeting of lenders to the company on June 22 to work out resolution mechanism, it said.

For the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2017, Electrosteel Steels had reported a net loss of Rs 293.33 crore as against net profit Rs 265.14 crore in the year-ago quarter.