Delhi has highest number of insolvency professionals

MUMBAI: The National Company Law Tribunal’s Mumbai Chapter may be dealing with the highest number of bankruptcy cases in India, but New Delhi has the highest number of insolvency professionals.

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India ( IBBI) has registered 263 chartered/cost accountants or company secretaries from Delhi as insolvency professionals (IPs), who are eligible to run troubled companies for a stipulated period. There are a total of 1,107 registered insolvency professionals in India.

Mumbai ranks second with 202 insolvency professionals registered with IBBI. Kolkata comes third with 93 IPs, followed by Chennai with 58, show data from IBBI updated till September-end. “The rising number of IPs in Delhi is the cumulative effect of many factors,” said Amarjit Singh Chandhiok, president, INSOL India, a Delhi-based independent body representing practitioners.


“Commercial disputes/litigation are now increasingly adjudicated and settled in the city with about 150-200 lawyers visiting Delhi courts every day, apart from professionals appearing in various tribunals and adjudicating authorities.”

Over the past few months, cases involving Amrapali and Jaypee groups hit the headlines as hassled homebuyers moved higher courts against the insolvency proceedings initiated against those real estate companies.

“This has opened opportunities for all those accounting professionals, lawyers, who now find the city more viable than Mumbai when it comes to their career especially in relation to conflict resolution of commercial and financial matters,” said Chandhiok.

In terms of regions, North India, excluding Delhi, produced 184 IPs compared with the West which has 132 IPs (excluding Mumbai) since December 31last year. “Anything related to regulation, Delhi always becomes the epicentre,” said Anil Bhandari, a Mumbaibased chartered accountant. “That is why accounting professionals are attracted to Delhi.

The same pattern goes when it comes to registration with IBBI.” “But, more IBBI registrations are likely from Mumbai in the coming days as it is the financial centre. That will narrow the gap between the two cities,” he said. With 20 years of experience Bhandari is now setting up a team of CAs to get into insolvency practice.

The IBBI, set up last year, was tasked with providing the framework for recovery proceedings, conduct exams that allow chartered accountants, company secretaries, cost accountants, advocates or even graduates to qualify as IPs. IBBI has been conducting the insolvency examination since December end through the National Institute of Securities Markets across 100+ locations in the country daily.