Insolvency case: ICICI Bank moves NCLT against JP Associates
ICICI Bank on Monday filed an insolvency case against Jaiprakash Associates before the Allahabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), which issued notices to the latter seeking a reply by September 17 when the matter will be heard next. The company owes around Rs 1,260 crore to ICICI Bank. ICICI Bank had filed an insolvency case in the NCLT after Reserve Bank of India last month rejected its plea to make an exception in the case of JP Associates as banks had finalized a restructuring plan and also partly implemented it. Once an insolvency plea is admitted, a resolution professional is appointed to complete the resolution process within 180 days.
Bidding battle: ArcelorMittal ups the ante in the race for Essar Steel
Steel major ArcelorMittal will up its bid for Essar Steel to Rs 42,000 crore and will also settle its dues of Rs 7,000 crore to Uttam Galva and KSS Petron, to stay ahead of rival bidder Numetal, sources close to the development said. The Lakshmi Mittal-promoted steelmaker’s move comes after the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) said late last week that Arcelor’s bid would be eligible only if it clears the dues of Uttam Galva and KSS Petron. The appellate tribunal asked ArcelorMittal to clear the dues by September 11 while ruling that Numetal’s second bid for an amount of Rs 37,000 crore was eligible.
Power NPAs: Relief to 1 project, 4 more join SC plea
The Madras High Court on Monday gave temporary impunity to RKM Powergen’s 1,440 MW stressed power unit at Chhattisgarh from any action under the Reserve Bank of India’s February circular that seeks to fast-track insolvency process for defaulting projects. The day, however, also saw four firms — Essar Power, GMR Energy, KSK Energy and Rattan India Power — withdrawing their petitions from the Allahabad High Court, seeking similar relief; these companies may now join a group of firms that had approached the Supreme Court earlier, seeking joint hearing of their cases of similar import. The apex court is slated to hear the matter on Tuesday.
NCLT needs Supreme Court nod before finalising bids for Ruchi Soya
he Supreme Court on Monday allowed the National Company Law Tribunal to continue processing bids for Ruchi Soya Industries, which is undergoing insolvency proceedings, but restrained it from finalising the bid without its approval. Mumbai-based edible oil maker Ruchi Soya, whose leading brands include Nutrela, Mahakosh, Sunrich, Ruchi Star and Ruchi Gold, has a total debt of about Rs 12,000 crore. The company was admitted for the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) on December 8 after its two creditors — Standard Chartered Bank and DBS Bank —had moved the NCLT, Mumbai.
Sebi mulls allowing NRIs through FPI route after meeting specific KYC norms
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is looking at including non-resident Indians (NRIs) in the foreign portfolio investors’ quota. Sources said the regulator had written to the central government, seeking its opinion on this. The move could open a new source for foreign inflows into the country, as NRIs are currently not big investors because of regulatory curbs. NRIs usually take the mutual fund route. However, this does not allow them to make company-specific investments. While India, on average, receives NRI remittances of $10-15 billion every year, the total assets owned by NRI investors in Indian equities are less than half a billion dollars, the Sebi data showed.
J&J says all imported implants ‘traced’, 50% of patients contacted
Facing flak over “untraced” faulty ASR hip implants and patients who may have required a revision surgery because of the flawed product, Johnson and Johnson’s Medical Devices chief in India, Sushobhan Dasgupta, clarified that all implants had been accounted for and more than 50 per cent of the patients had been contacted. Dasgupta said J&J’s decision to stop selling in Australia in 2009 was a commercial decision due to declining sales and not a voluntary recall. This contradicts the observation of an expert committee that investigated the issue.
Google seeks time to comply with RBI regulations on financial data storage
At a time when the government wants financial data to be stored in India, search giant Google has sought more time to comply with the mandate of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for its payments service. Sources said Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai had told IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad that Google Pay would comply with all the regulations related to digital payments services. He, however, has sought two months to comply with the RBI rules, an official in the ministry said.
ARCS Shipbuild, HK investor move NCLT to buy Bharati Defence
Mumbai-based ARCS Shipbuild Services Pvt. Ltd and Hong Kong-based investor Ricky Nathaniel have separately approached the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to join the resolution process for Bharati Defence and Infrastructure Ltd. They are seeking to join the process even though Bharati Defence’s committee of creditors (CoC) has already approved a resolution plan submitted by Edelweiss ARC, and the resolution professional (RP) has submitted it to the tribunal for its approval.
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