Bankruptcy law to improve ease of doing business: Shaktikanta Das

A new law on bankruptcy aimed at improving the ease of doing business will be introduced in Parliament at the earliest, a top finance ministry official said today.

"Bankruptcy law will improve ease of doing business in India. Government will try to introduce the bill in the Parliament at the earliest," Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said in a tweet.

A government-appointed panel had yesterday suggested a modern bankruptcy law to deal with insolvency cases within 180 days that may arise on account of business failures or economic downturns.

The draft legislation prepared by a panel, headed by former Law Secretary T K Vishwnathan, also proposes early identification of financial distress so that steps could be taken to revive the ailing companies.

Vishwnathan had presented the Bankruptcy Law Committee Report to Jaitley here yesterday.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said the government would try to introduce a bill dealing with bankruptcy law in the forthcoming Winter Session of Parliament.

The panel's report, which entails the draft legislation, noted that the recovery rates obtained in India are among the lowest in the world.

It proposes to establish an Insolvency Regulator to exercise regulatory oversight on insolvency professionals and agencies.

The committee's report has been put up on the Ministry's website. Comments and suggestions on the report have been invited till November 19.