Insolvency law helped address Rs 3-trn stressed assets in 2 years: Govt

The insolvency law has helped in directly and indirectly addressing stressed assets worth Rs 3 trillion in the last two years, a senior government official said Saturday.

More than 9,000 cases have come for redressal under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), which became fully operational in December 2016.

Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas said there has been a direct and indirect impact of the Code on stressed assets worth close to Rs 3 trillion.

The estimated amount included recoveries made through resolution plans and cases settled before admission by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) under the Code.

Over 3,500 cases have been resolved at a pre-admission stage and resulted in claims worth Rs 1.2 trillion getting settled, he said.

Under the Code, cases are taken up for resolution only after approval from the NCLT.

"About 1,300 cases have been admitted and out of that, in about 400 cases, corporate insolvency resolution process has been completed... in 60 cases resolution plans have been approved, in 240 cases liquidation orders have been given, 126 cases are in appeal. These cases which have been resolved have led to the recovery of Rs 710 billion as of now," Srinivas said.

Taking into consideration cases that are at a mature stage of being addressed under the Code, he said the amount would be another Rs 500 billion.

"If you factor that, you have around Rs 1.2 trillion coming through resolutions... (then adding up) pre-admission settlements, then it becomes Rs 2.4 trillion," Srinivas said.

Further, the Corporate Affairs Secretary noted that there are non-standard NPA accounts that have been converted to standard accounts by virtue of borrowers paying back the overdue amount and that figure would be around Rs 450 to 500 billion.

Together, the amount would be close to Rs 3 trillion in terms of stressed assets that have been directly and indirectly impacted by the Code, he added.

Srinivas also said that much of the money might be pertaining to operational creditors.

Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) Chairperson M S Sahoo said it was not advisable to exclusively rely on the Code for resolution of all problems, adding that everyone has to play their roles under the Code.

They were speaking at a conference on 'Ensuring Efficiency in Resolution Process'.