logo
IBC requires urgent reforms to meet demands across various sectors

IBC requires urgent reforms to meet demands across various sectors

Court orders and reforms do not compensate for the legislative clarity needed in IBC for sector-specific insolvency processes
Karishma Dodeja Deepali Verma
Listen to This Article
According to the newly amended extant regulations for the corporate insolvency resolution process, a committee of creditors (CoC) is entitled to invite a 'competent authority' under Section 2 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) to participate in CoC meetings. But the amendment only scratches the surface of a much larger structural issue within the insolvency regime.
Resolution of stressed assets in real estate is complex due to its intricate regulatory landscape and the involvement of multiple stakeholders. By allowing RERA authorities to be present at CoC meetings, the amendment acknowledges the critical role they play in

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

MO Alternates secures Rs 1,050 crore from complete exits in second realty fund
MO Alternates secures Rs 1,050 crore from complete exits in second realty fund

Time of India

time35 minutes ago

  • Time of India

MO Alternates secures Rs 1,050 crore from complete exits in second realty fund

Motilal Oswal Alternates (MO Alternates), the alternative investment arm of Motilal Oswal Group , has made exits worth over Rs 1 ,050 crore from all 14 investments under its second real estate fund, India Realty Excellence Fund II . The fund, with a corpus of Rs 489 crore, focused on providing structured capital to developers for mid-income residential projects across key urban markets in India. The capital was deployed in cities with significant housing demand and was aimed at supporting project completion and delivery timelines. With this, the fund--having invested Rs 680 crore including reinvestments--has delivered a gross internal rate of return (IRR) of 18.3%, achieving full exit in line with its stated investment philosophy and return objectives. 'The closure of IREF II reinforces our belief in disciplined investing backed by on-ground insights, strong governance, and a relentless focus on execution. Looking ahead, we remain highly optimistic about the Indian real estate sector. With increasing formalisation, stronger balance sheets, and a growing appetite for institutional capital, we believe this is a defining decade for real estate in India,' said Vishal Tulsyan, Co-founder and Executive Chairman, MO Alternates. Investments and exits were made in projects of developers such as Kolte Patil Developers , Casagrand Group, Shriram Properties , and others. The fund's cycle reflected typical timelines for structured real estate investments in the mid-income segment and the exits were achieved through repayments and project completions. Live Events 'This has been a deeply instructive fund cycle. The importance of proactive asset management--spotting stress early, taking swift action, and maintaining developer alignment--has stood out as a key differentiator,' said Saurabh Rathi, MD & Co-Head of real estate funds at MO Alternates. According to him, the portfolio's diversification across cities and counterparties helped it mitigate concentration risks during volatile periods. 'The fund's ability to deliver superior risk-adjusted returns despite a challenging macro environment, is a testament to our investment discipline and active asset management approach,' Anand Lakhotia, MD & Co-Head of real estate funds at MO Alternates. According to him, the fund navigated disruptions including demonetization, implementation of RERA and GST, the NBFC liquidity crisis, and COVID-19--which affected sales, funding, and execution--yet maintained a resilient portfolio through capital protection, disciplined underwriting, and active monitoring, enabling profitable exits from all investments. MO Alternates' cumulative assets under management for real estate stand at over Rs 10,000 crore across six real estate funds and co-investments. The platform has made over 180 investments and secured more than 110 complete exits. Overall, the alternative investments platform manages more than $2 billion in cumulative AUM across real estate and private equity.

Navigating complexities: Why the voting threshold is a major hurdle in insolvency application withdrawal
Navigating complexities: Why the voting threshold is a major hurdle in insolvency application withdrawal

Mint

timean hour ago

  • Mint

Navigating complexities: Why the voting threshold is a major hurdle in insolvency application withdrawal

India's leading law firms such as Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, Khaitan & Co, and JSA Advocates & Solicitors have voiced concerns about the increasing difficulty in withdrawing companies from insolvency proceedings. A key hurdle is the stiff requirement for a 90% voting threshold from the committee of creditors (CoC) to approve such a withdrawal, even when a viable insolvency resolution plan is near, they said. "One of the key challenges is the requirement of a 90% voting threshold from the committee of creditors (CoC), which is often difficult to achieve," said Shardul Shroff, executive chairman at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. Shroff was pointing to section 12A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code that allows withdrawal of insolvency application against a corporate debtor only with the approval of 90% voting share of the committee of creditors, which is often hard to achieve. Shroff also noted another hurdle wherein once the insolvency proceedings are admitted, they are treated as proceedings in rem, meaning that they impact all stakeholders of the corporate debtor and not just the parties to the settlement. "As a result, even if the CoC consents to withdrawal, dissenting stakeholders such as operational creditors or minority financial creditors may object if their claims remain unpaid or unresolved." Law firms have mentioned some insolvency cases, including Byju's, and Syska LED, wherein creditors have failed to settle matters outside of the formal insolvency process. Also Read | Reform push: Insurance amendment bill heads to Parliament; changes to IBC, Companies Act will have to wait Shroff highlighted the Byju's case wherein operational creditor BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) moved the insolvency court in 2024 seeking dues worth ₹158 crore. Byju's settled its dues with BCCI. The same year, however, other creditors including Glas Trust and Aditya Birla finance opposed the settlement since financial creditors did not receive their dues before BCCI, an operational creditor. On 23 October 2024 , the Supreme Court clarified the procedure for withdrawal under Section 12A and emphasized that the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Mumbai bench cannot act merely as a 'post office" . "However, the Court did not lay down any clear test or criteria that the NCLT is supposed to apply if the statutory requirements for withdrawal are otherwise met. This lack of guidance can lead to legal uncertainty and add to the procedural delays, leading to erosion of value available for stakeholders," said Shroff. Today, Byju's still continues to be under the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP). This was after SC in May 2025 admitted appeal filed by BCCI and refused to stay the ongoing CIRP, but issued notices to key creditors Glas Trust, Aditya Birla Finance, etc. The next hearing is scheduled for 21 July, when the top court will decide whether to allow withdrawal and consider interim reliefs. Others concur. "While the 90% threshold aims to ensure consensus, it is increasingly being relied upon by courts to disallow settlements on a bilateral basis if the majority group is opposing," Kumar Saurabh Singh, a partner at Khaitan & Co who practises banking and finance restructuring and insolvency, said. Also Read: IBC's weak spot: Slow, difficult recovery from dubious pre-bankruptcy deals Bottleneck Singh noted that when such bilateral settlements were challenged by other creditors or fresh applications were filed, they caused a 'judicial bottleneck". According to an insolvency lawyer who practises in NCLT-Mumbai, the court rejected Syska LED Lights' application to withdraw the corporate insolvency resolution process initiated against them. The bankruptcy case started in October last year, when Sunstar Industries, one of the operational creditors, initiated insolvency proceedings against the consumer electricals company Syska LED Lights. On 18 March 2025, Sunstar Industries filed a section 12A application for withdrawal of CIRP after reaching a settlement with Syska LED Lights. However, financial creditors, including IDFC First Bank and State Bank of India, intervened while strongly opposing the insolvency application withdrawal. The insolvency court rejected the withdrawal application this year in March. "Given the criticality of the 12A process being the only avenue for withdrawal of a company from CIRP, commercial considerations should be paramount in the court's decision-making. Delays or any other form of judicial intervention may prove fatal," said Soumitra Majumdar, partner, JSA Advocates & Solicitors. Majumdar is in favour of a high threshold of CoC approval. "Given the definitive nature of the 12A process, the consent threshold should be high, reflective of wide acceptance by the committee of creditors. Accordingly, a 90% threshold appears to be in order". Still, commercial considerations should be allowed to be paramount while considering 12A processes, with absolute flexibilities and procedural safeguards.

From cloud-first to cloud-smart: Why Indian enterprises need a sovereign strategy
From cloud-first to cloud-smart: Why Indian enterprises need a sovereign strategy

Time of India

time2 hours ago

  • Time of India

From cloud-first to cloud-smart: Why Indian enterprises need a sovereign strategy

Over the past decade, Indian enterprises have quickly adopted the cloud and are now embracing a cloud-first approach to accelerate their digital transformation. But today, the conversation is shifting. With rising compliance demands and geopolitical concerns, this strategy to gain agility and scale is being re-evaluated. This transition from "cloud-first" to "cloud-smart" is especially relevant in a country like India, where there is growing emphasis on digital sovereignty. In the early phases of digital transformation, the cloud-first model was effective. It prompted companies to update their IT systems, migrate workloads more rapidly, and respond to business demands more quickly. However, soon, a lot of businesses began to face difficulties. They discovered that not all workloads are suitable for the public cloud, including performance bottlenecks for applications sensitive to latency, and soaring costs. Businesses began to encounter increasingly complex challenges related to data control, security, and regulatory compliance as digital systems evolved. Cloud-smart: Optimizing for control, and compliance A cloud-smart strategy involves the judicious usage of cloud resources. It emphasizes choosing the right deployment model, which is either public, private, hybrid, or sovereign cloud , based on regulatory obligations and the organization's workload requirements. Gartner predicted that by 2023, 60% of all organizations that had adopted a cloud-first policy would seek out a more balanced, cloud-smart approach to it. This is a vital approach for India. The Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act mandates strict guidelines for localization and data handling. Sectoral regulators such as the RBI and IRDAI have introduced data residency requirements for financial and insurance data. In this context, data storage with processing overseas might not always be a viable or compliant option when depending on foreign hyperscalers. Why sovereign cloud is becoming non-negotiable Digital sovereignty is having national jurisdiction over data and digital infrastructure. While global cloud platforms offer scalability and innovation, they bring challenges. With escalating cyber threats, enterprises and governments are prioritizing control over security. India recorded over 1.6 billion cyberattacks in 2023 alone. Enterprises now face risks due to foreign surveillance laws, such as the U.S. CLOUD Act. Hyperscalers worldwide, even with technological prowess, cannot often provide a guarantee of jurisdiction. In contrast, a sovereign cloud ensures data is stored, processed, and managed under Indian laws within Indian borders. It allows enterprises to control their digital assets and aligns itself with the vision of the government for a self-reliant digital India. The problems with relying on global hyperscalers Many CIOs and CTOs are now rethinking how their infrastructure is set up, especially when it comes to critical workloads. It's becoming harder to ensure that data stays within India and keeps up with changing local regulations. There's also a growing security concern, with limited visibility into where exactly data is stored or who might have access. Moreover, using proprietary tools often leads to vendor lock-in, making it tough to switch providers when needed. Shifting global politics poses the constant risk of foreign policy changes. This can disrupt access to essential data or services. These concerns are pushing tech leaders to look for smarter, more resilient strategies that offer better control and resilience. The roadmap for enterprise leaders 1. Give hybrid and multi-cloud architectures top priority: Use a combination of sovereign, private, and public cloud services. While less sensitive workloads can use global infrastructure, sensitive data can remain in India, providing flexibility and ensuring compliance. 2. Integrate Compliance by Design: Ensure your cloud strategy incorporates Indian data protection laws from the outset. Decide on deployment models based on the sensitivity of the data. Collaborate with suppliers who provide clear data residency controls. 3. Reduce Vendor Lock-In: Use infrastructure-agnostic tools, containerized apps, and open standards. To maintain resilience and bargaining power, design systems with portability in mind. 4. Make Security and Observability Better: Implement strong encryption methods, keep track of your own encryption keys, and make sure that data flows between platforms are always being watched and audited. 5. Partner with cloud providers based in India: Local cloud partners can give you sovereign infrastructure, faster support, and a better understanding of the rules and regulations. Look for providers that MeitY has approved for government and BFSI workloads. Looking ahead The cloud will be the cornerstone of India's projected $1 trillion digital economy by 2027. However, this foundation needs to be based on compliance, sovereignty, and smart architectural decisions. The cloud-smart approach is a strategic necessity rather than merely a tactical change. In addition to future-proofing their operations, businesses that adopt a sovereign-first mentality will also support India's larger goal of technological autonomy. The time has come for IT leaders to review their cloud strategy and establish sovereignty as a key component of their digital approach.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store