Bhushan Steel falls as NCLT hears firm's bankruptcy petitions

NEW DELHI: Shares of Bhushan Steel fell over 4 per cent on Friday after National Company Law Tribunal ( NCLT) heard the bankruptcy petitions by lenders against the company, and Bhushan Power and Steel, and decided to give four more days to the company to formulate a reply.

Following the development, the stock shed 4.32 per cent to end the session at Rs 62 on BSE. It opened at Rs 64.70 and touched an intraday high and low of Rs 64.70 and Rs 62.90 respectively, in trade so far.

Bhushan argued it only received notice from banks on July 11 and hadn't had time to prepare its rebuttal.

Vivek Sibal, managing partner Sibal & Co, representing Bhushan Steel, said "We are contending that the petition is not legally maintainable and will file a detailed explanation of our contention."

Bhushan Steel, run by Neeraj Singhal, is one of 12 accounts which have to be referred to the bankruptcy court by the Reserve Bank of India as per a notification issued in June.

It has debt of about Rs 40,000 crore and has been under stress for nearly two years. The Joint Lenders Forum, which has been trying to resolve the issue for two years, has failed to come up with a solution.

In the year to March 2017, Bhushan Steel reported revenue of Rs 15,027 crore accompanied by a net loss of Rs 3,615 crore.