Beena Parmar
Moneycontrol News
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Monday asked State Bank of India (SBI) to take "seriously" the Monnet Ispat and Energy's insolvency case and clarify the confusion over its default amount.
On July 13, the tribunal bench had asked the bank to clarify whether they were pressing their application on the basis of dues or default and adjourned the matter till Monday. The adjournment has been on the same clarification for the past over 2 hearings.
SBI has filed an amendment to its insolvency petition against Monnet Ispat in NCLT over a mismatch in default and claim figure.
The SBI counsel said that the total claim amount stood at Rs 2,243 crore as outstanding dues, but the default amount stated was Rs 1,539 crore.
The judge hearing the case asked the SBI manager present in the hearing to clarify the claim amount against which the case is being fought as the default amount and the claimed amount vary in the draft.
Judge said SBI should "see the seriousness of the case".
"We have given 2-3 adjournments on the same grounds. Advocate makes the same argument each time. Today, if we pass this order, then tomorrow this claim will be applicable to other cases as well," he added.
The tribunal is hearing the case filed by SBI under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), acting on a Reserve Bank of India directive on June 13 to file 12 non-performing asset (NPA) accounts immediately to the insolvency court.
The Delhi-based Sandeep Jajodia-promoted steel major's debt surged to nearly Rs 12,500 crore due to severe financial crunch on slowdown in the steel sector owing to the drop in commodity prices, deallocation of its captive coal mines and huge steel imports from China.
Lenders also invoked the strategic debt restructuring (SDR) scheme to convert the company's debt into equity in August 2015 and now control 51 percent of the company. However, they had failed to find a new investor till the Sajjan Jindal-owned JSW Group expressed interest at the start of this year.
In the previous hearing, SBI had refused to accept the JSW bid offer in its current form.
Monnet Ispat has been in losses for the past three years. In 2016-17, Monnet Ispat’s losses jumped to Rs 2,132 crore, eroding its net worth, which stood at minus Rs 1,602 crore. Its losses were at Rs 381 crore in the quarter ending June 30, 2017.
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