How group firm helped land India's largest tea producer in bankruptcy court

Some of the major buyers have privately ruled out bidding for the company

Seventy-three million kilograms of tea produced on estates spread across 27,360 hectares of rolling green with the help of 73,000 employees. Meet McLeod Russel India Ltd, one of the world’s largest producers, now in the middle of insolvency proceedings after defaulting on a Rs 100-crore loan.

On August 6, the New Delhi Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) passed an order admitting an application by Techno Electric & Engineering, a power infrastructure company owned by a former merchant banker, P P Gupta, for initiating corporate insolvency resolution against McLeod Russel.

At the heart of the matter are the