Construction firm Jaiprakash Associates has defaulted on payments to lenders to the tune of Rs 2,897 crore on February 28. The company has Rs 1,544 crore of interest overdues and Rs 1,353 crore to lenders, according to a statement issued to bourses.
Lenders to Jaipraksh Associates, the flagship company in the group, include ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, IDBI Bank, Canara Bank and Bank of Baroda. The default is on obligations such as fund-based working capital, non-fund-based working capital, term loans and FCCB. In total, there are about 32 banks which have exposure to Jaiprakash Associates.
The company has a total outstanding debt of Rs 27,000 crore to creditors. In September 2018, ICICI Bank, the lead lender, had filed an insolvency petition against JP Associates before the Allahabad Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal. The lenders have been trying to restructure the debt outside IBC but this has not been successful so far.
According to sources, lenders may push for resolution through NCLT route at this stage.
According to a senior banker who didn’t want to be named, lenders led by ICICI Bank has been trying to restructure the account outside IBC but the Reserve Bank of India wasn’t keen.
"It looks like banks are pushing for a resolution through NCLT," said the banker. "This matter has been going on for years after the application was first filed in 2018. This account is already factored by the banks in their books," said the banker.
JP Associate was in the second list of insolvency accounts the RBI had sent to banks in 2017. Jaypee Infratech Ltd, the other group company is already undergoing NCLT proceedings.
Recently, another real estate company Supertech had declared insolvency. The Delhi-NCR-based developer, which has several ongoing projects in Noida, Greater Noida, Gurugram and Ghaziabad, went into insolvency after the Delhi bench of the National Company Law Tribunal admitted a petition filed by the Union Bank of India for non-payment of dues of Rs 431,92,53,302 as on January 31, 2021.
This order may impact over 25,000 homebuyers who were awaiting possession of their homes booked with the developer for several years. However, Supertech claimed that the company has 38,041 customers out of which 27,111 homes have been delivered.
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