ICICI Bank moves NCLT against Punj Lloyd to recover Rs 830-cr dues

Top private-sector lender ICICI Bank has approached the dedicated bankruptcy resolution court to recover Rs 830 crore of outstanding loans to Punj Lloyd, a New Delhi-based engineering and projectconstruction firm.

Thursday was the first day of hearing of the petition filed with the New Delhi chapter of the National Company law Tribunal (NCLT).

“The case was filed about a month ago but came up for hearing today. Initial arguments were made and the matter has been postponed to a later date,” said a person familiar with the filing. Punj Lloyd owes a consortium of lenders led by State Bank of India a total of Rs 12,518 crore, including principal, interests, and bank guarantees. SBI is the largest lender, with Rs 2,863 crore in dues.


In a notice to the stock exchanges, the company confirmed that ICICI Bank filed an application in the NCLT under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). However, the company clarified that 90% of the lenders were against approaching the NCLT and the largest lender SBI opposed the petition. ICICI did not respond to an email seeking comment.

“In a meeting of the lenders held on June 13, 2018, more than 90% of the lenders have, consequent to the receipt of the required rating criteria by the company, agreed to support a resolution plan under the leadership of State Bank of India (SBI) for restructuring the outstanding debts of the company. It was also decided that SBI, on behalf of all lenders, shall oppose the ICICI application at NCLT. The above application by ICICI was listed for hearing before the tribunal today, wherein the counsels for the company and SBI appeared and challenged the maintainability,” Punj Lloyd said in a statement.

A company spokesperson clarified that based on a forensic audit by Choksi and Choksi, independent evaluation by Feedback Ventures and discussions with lenders, a restructuring plan has been already drawn.

At the hearing on Thursday, the NCLT directed Punj Lloyd and SBI to reply to ICICI’s petition. The next date of hearing has been set for July 24.“In view of the above, the company is of the view that the application filed by ICICI may not be admitted by the NCLT since more than 90% of the lenders of the company are in favour of restructuring the debts,” Punj Lloyd said.