Debt-ridden IL&FS, which had initiated a claims management process for its entities, has extended the last date for filing of claims. From the earlier deadline of June 5, the new IL&FS board has extended the last date to June 20, the company said in a statement.

This extension is pursuant to the order passed by the NCLAT on May 29, wherein the Court had given lenders another fortnight to file their claims.

As a part of the overall resolution process, the new board headed by veteran banker Uday Kotak had initiated the claims management process of 70 group entities of IL&FS, in an effort to crystallise the financial and operational liabilities which can then be used to facilitate distribution of proceeds to lenders.

Subsequently, other entities of the IL&FS Group will be addressed appropriately, a statement said.

In October last year, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)-appointed board headed by Kotak was tasked to ensure orderly settlement. As part of the resolution efforts, the group companies have been classified into three categories based on their financial positions — green, amber and red. IL&FS owes external creditors ₹89,246 crore from a total of ₹94,215 crore in debt.

Recently, the National Pension System (NPS) marked down almost 75 per cent of its ₹1,000-plus crore exposure to IL&FS. The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority had raised this issue with Kotak and urged all its pension fund managers to submit a joint petition to the NCLT under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) saying priority be given to PFRDA, since this is a retirement corpus.

So far, Japanese company ORIX, which holds a 49 per cent stake in IL&FS’ wind-power subsidiary, has expressed its intent to buy the remaining 51 per cent stake. Talks to sell some other assets are also going on.

The debt crisis in IL&FS has adversely impacted growth of the NBFC sector in India and might lead to its consolidation, said a report by Fitch Ratings.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW