The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Thursday dismissed Standard Chartered Bank’s petition to reclassify it as a financial creditor to Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd, stating the lender is too late in seeking such a change.
Standard Chartered, which had filed the case on 3 September, is trying to recover $52.5 million (around ?375 crore) from Ruchi Soya, which is undergoing insolvency resolution. The company owes more than ?10,000 crore to banks and financial institutions. “There was a tripartite agreement between Standard Chartered Bank, Ruchi Soya, and its subsidiary Avanti Industries. Under this agreement, Ruchi Soya received the money from Standard Chartered to supply goods to Avanti, and subsequently, Standard Chartered had to collect money from Avanti," Shyam Kapadia, counsel for Standard Chartered, told NCLT. “The nature of the debt was working capital and hence it qualifies as financial debt," Kapadia said.
On Thursday, the tribunal also directed Ruchi Soya’s resolution professional to comply with the Supreme Court order to hold a fresh meeting of the committee of creditors to decide on the resolution plans.
NCLT will next hear the case on 5 March after lenders decide on a successful bidder.
On 31 January, the Supreme Court had allowed a former Ruchi Soya director to participate in the fresh meeting of the company’s lenders and directed the resolution professional to provide copies of resolution plans.
Courtesy/By: Sakshi Shukla
|
12 Feb 2019
