NEW DELHI: The number of days taken for finalisation of the insolvency resolution plan has dropped from 752 days at the end of the March quarter to 694 days at the end of June, but remains significantly higher than the prescribed 180 days, which can be extended by another 90.According to the latest numbers released by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India, 78% of the resolution plans have been ongoing for more than 270 days, indicating the extent of delay in the process that was meant to ensure strict timelines so that creditors can realise maximum value from the assets. But, litigation in multiple forums as well as limited capacity in the National Company Law Tribunal have resulted in enormous delays.The average time taken for resolution of 1,258 corporate insolvency cases was estimated at 602 days at the end of June. The data also showed that during the June quarter, number of pending cases has once again gone up to 1,905 from 1,884 in Jan-March – pointing to the delays.On Tuesday, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman moved amendments to the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC), proposing multiple amendments to the eight-year-old law to speed up resolution and effectiveness of the framework. Official data pointed out that it takes more than 400 days to just admit the cases – against 14 provided under the law.Despite the delays, lenders and other creditors find IBC an effective tool to get defaulters to pay up or lose control of their companies.The June quarter also saw an important change with the cases initiated by financial creditors (lenders or homebuyers) outnumbering those by operational creditors. At the end of June, of the 8,492 cases initiated, 4,002 were initiated by financial creditors, while 3,963 were by operational creditors. At the end of March, of the 8,308 cases filed, 3,893 were by financial creditors – six less than operational creditors. For operational creditors, especially suppliers, IBC often helped recover their dues, reflected in the high number of withdrawals. More than half the cases filed by them were closed on appeal review or withdrawal and these closures amounted to 68% of the overall closures. Besides, till June, resolved cases resulted in realisation of 32.5% of the admitted claims, which was marginally higher at 33.7% for large cases (those with admitted claims of over Rs 1,000 crore).
