BPL falters on finance rejig

BPL Ltd, which got a reprieve from a host of lenders to restructure its Rs 1,500 crore debt, has faltered again on the restructured package. According to the auditors report, interest overdue as on December 31, 2006, was Rs 10.44 crore.

Last October, the company had a debt of Rs 435 crore, including a zero per cent loan and zero per cent preference share capital aggregating Rs 294 crore. BPL got $70 million (around Rs 311 crore) from hiving off its CTV business to a equal joint venture with Sanyo.

The company utilised this fund towards settlement of secured creditors in pursuance of the scheme of arrangement approved by the Kerala High Court. As a result, the annual interest burden for the company came down to Rs 12 crore from Rs 220 crore.

In addition to defaulting on interest payments, the auditors have stated that there were delays in remittance of statutory dues including provident fund, ESIC, customs duty and tax deducted at source.

"Customs duty amounting to Rs 4.06 crore is outstanding for a period exceeding six months as on December 31, 2006," they added.