NCLT to consider November 2 admitting TechM insolvency petition against RCom

The National Company Law Tribunal ( NCLT) will consider admitting an insolvency case against Reliance Communications ( Rcom) filed by Tech Mahindra on 2nd of November.

The IT company had filed an insolvency petition for a recovery of Rs 8.2 crore from the Anil Ambani owned telco and its two units, few days after Rcom’s deal with Aircel was called off.

The quality of service and amounts billed are disputed, RCom said in a regulatory filing terming the petitions as "misconceived, premature and motivated by extraneous considerations". The Ambani owned company, struggling under a debt of Rs 46700 crore, also said that the “the claim amount is not considered material by the respective Companies concerned”.

‘"We wish to inform you that Tech Mahindra Ltd, a vendor for call centre services, has filed petitions, as an unsecured operational creditor under IBC (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code against the company, Reliance Telecom and Reliance Big TV, subsidiaries of the company for certain bills submitted by them for services allegedly rendered," the Anil Ambani company said on 7th of this month on the BSE.

This is the second insolvency petition against the telecom operator. In September, handset maker Ericsson filed for insolvency in the NCLT to recover Rs 1,150 crore from RCom for services and equipment it had supplied. Under this, the tribunal can initiate takeover of the company or even liquidation to settle debt.

Negotiations between the two to reach an out of court settlement have failed so far. The hearing to decide if the plea should be accepted in NCLT is scheduled for 9th of November.

Laden with debt, the telco is going through a strategic debt restructuring (SDR) and has only till December to find a solution after which lenders could initiate bankruptcy proceedings.

The Anil Ambani firm has chalked out an alternate plan involving sale of tower, fibre, spectrum, and real estate assets to generate Rs 25,000 crore that could be used to repay lenders.

Shares for Rcom closed at Rs 16.85, down by 2.03% on the BSE on Monday .