The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Ahmedabad has admitted Essar Steel’s insolvency case on Wednesday. Essar Steel owes more than Rs 45,000 crore to lenders, of which Rs 31,671 crore had already been declared as non-performing as of March 31, 2016. The SBI-led consortium of 22 creditors accounts for 93% of this amount. Essar Steel owes $ 450.67 million to Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) in debt.
Both petitions filed by State Bank of India (SBI) and Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) for initiating insolvency proceeding under Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC) against the steel major Essar Steel Ltd have been admitted by NCLT on Wednesday.
Satish Kumar Gupta, of Alvarez and Marsal India, has been appointed as Interim Resolution Professional (IRP). In its application, SCB had suggested appointment of Dinkar Venkatasubramanian, partner, transaction advisory services, at consulting firm Ernst & Young as IRP while SBI’s application suggested Satish Kumar Gupta of Alvarez and Marsal India to be appointed as IRP.
After losing an intense legal battle at Gujarat High Court, Essar Steel got engaged with legal tussle at NCLT, where SBI and SCB fought to ensure admission of their insolvency application against Essar Steel and simultaneously the appointment of their interim resolution professional (IRP) under Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016.
