Future Retail insolvency proceedings: NCLT extends deadline to Aug 17

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has extended the timeline for Future Retail's management to complete its ongoing insolvency process by allowing 33 more days, Financial Express (FE) has reported. The new deadline is August 17.

The Mumbai bench of the tribunal heard a request by the company's resolution professionals on July 17 and granted the extension according to Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP). The company had conducted a Committee of Creditors (CoC) meeting on July 5, the company had informed in a regulatory update, the report said.

On April 14, Future Retail Limited (FRL) received the NCLT approval for a 90-day extension on its resolution process as its earlier deadline of April 16 was coming close. The new deadline was July 15 and now FRL has again received approval for an extension until August 17. The debt-laden firm has requested multiple extensions in the past, the FE report said.

FRL received claims totalling to Rs 21,555 crore from 35 lenders in June. The lenders included Bank of New York Mellon and Union Bank of India. Several other creditors had also raised claims, which include names like Bank of Baroda, Central Bank of India, Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Indian Bank, and State Bank of India, among others.

Bank of New York Mellon holds the highest voting share of 21.18 per cent in FRL's committee of creditors (CoC), which is followed by Union Bank of India at 9.17 per cent and Bank of Baroda at 8.95 per cent, the report said.

NCLT had admitted an insolvency petition filed by the Bank of India in July 2022 against FRL and appointed Vijay Kumar V Iyer as the resolution professional. This began the bankruptcy proceedings for the indebted retail chain.