24 Creditors Move Tribunal to Recover Dues From Anil Ambani Firms

At least 24 creditors have moved court seeking repayment of dues from debt-ridden firms led by Anil Ambani.

(Photo: Reuters) 

At least 24 creditors of the struggling Reliance Communications and Reliance Telecom have moved various benches of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) against the two firms belonging to Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group, reports The Indian Express.

According to records, they have moved the Mumbai-based Tribunal to recover their dues under Section 9 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). At least 11 of the 24 creditors who have approached court have resolved or are in the process of coming to a settlement with the company.

The total amounts of recoverable dues owed to the creditors range from a few lakhs to the many crores of rupees. For instance, Bangalore International Airport wants the telecom firm to clear its dues of over Rs 1 crore. Paytm’s parent firm One 97Communications is hoping to recover Rs 20 crore from Reliance Communications.

Recently, a Supreme Court bench led by Justice Rohinton Nariman, gave RCom time till December 15 to clear pending dues of Rs 550 crore to Swedish equipment manager Ericsson India. However, it also observed that this would be the last chance for the company to come through on the payments.

It also informed Ericsson that it could revive contempt proceedings against RCom if payments were not made by the due date.

RCom was forced to undergo strategic debt restructuring last year after failing to repay its dues to the tune of Rs 45,000 crores. RCom has exited its wireless businesses and is looking to sell other businesses as well.

Anil Ambani had also announced earlier this month that RCom would soon exit the telecom business entirely to focus on real estate. The appellate tribunal has allowed RCom’s asset sale for an aggregate value of Rs 18100 crore as part of monetization efforts.