Videocon group founder Venugopal Dhoot moves SC against NCLAT ruling

Videocon founder Venugopal Dhoot has challenged an NCLAT ruling that excluded the group's overseas oil and gas assets from the insolvency process

Videocon group founder Venugopal Dhoot has approached the Supreme Court challenging a ruling of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) that declined to include the group’s overseas oil and gas assets in the insolvency process of Videocon Industries.

 

The appeal, filed on May 19 according to the Supreme Court’s website, is yet to come up for hearing before the top court.

 

In its May 14, 2026 judgment, the NCLAT recorded that Dhoot had himself urged lenders in 2016 and 2017 to keep Videocon Industries separate from the overseas oil and gas operations.

 

According to the tribunal, the move was aimed at “protecting the oil and gas assets of the group from the financial stress being experienced by VIL (Videocon Industries Limited) in the domestic business”.

   

The dispute concerns oil and gas holdings in Brazil and Indonesia controlled through Videocon Oil Ventures and associated foreign subsidiaries, and whether these assets should be treated as part of the Videocon Industries insolvency proceedings.

 

Dhoot contended that lenders and suppliers of Videocon Oil Ventures had also submitted claims in the Videocon Industries insolvency process and argued that the two companies functioned as a “single economic entity”.

 

Lenders led by State Bank of India opposed the plea, maintaining that the overseas energy assets were independently financed, ring-fenced and deliberately kept separate from the domestic consumer electronics operations.

 

Dismissing Dhoot’s challenge, the appellate tribunal held that bringing the foreign assets into the Videocon Industries insolvency process would amount to interference with the commercial wisdom exercised by the Committee of Creditors (CoC).

 

A Committee of Creditors is a body of lenders making key decisions in the insolvency process of a distressed company.

 

The Bench observed, “Videocon Industries and Videocon Oil Ventures are involved in starkly different businesses — Videocon Industries being in the market of consumer electronic products while Videocon Oil Ventures being in the business of oil products. One single entity would not have the expertise to revive these varied businesses.”

 

The tribunal further said the lenders and suppliers had opted for separate insolvency proceedings “to ensure different buyers with the requisite expertise for their businesses”, adding that such decisions were part of the CoC’s commercial wisdom and not open to judicial interference.

 

In a related development, the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on April 8, 2026 commenced personal insolvency proceedings against Dhoot in connection with an alleged default of nearly Rs 6,157 crore.