Jyoti Structures, Alok Industries next for insolvency; Essar, Bhushan Steel and Electrosteel to be discussed today

As part of the major push towards resolution of large bad loans this month, bankers will be meeting Thursday to discuss three big steel accounts — Essar Steel, Bhushan Steel and Electrosteel Steels — as part of the joint lenders' forum (JLF) to discuss the plan ahead.

Banks have outstanding loans worth Rs 45,000 crore to Essar Steel, Rs 47,000 crore to Bhushan Steel, and Rs 11,000 crore to Electrosteel Steels.

"We will discuss these three accounts tomorrow. Hopefully now there should be some resolution. The filing of the cases will happen in the next 10-15 days' time," a senior public sector bank official on aware of the meetings said on late Wednesday evening.

On Wednesday, bankers decided to move an application to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to initiate corporate insolvency on Jyoti Structures, another senior banker aware of the discussions said.

Reports suggest ABG Shipyard and Alok Industries will also be taken up for the same.

SBI is the lead bank for Jyoti Structures and Alok Industries that have outstanding loans of RS 22,000 and over RS 5,000 crore, respectively.

ICICI Bank, the lead bank for ABG Shipyard, received a mandate from the consortium of 22 lenders to decide the fate of Rs 6,900-crore loan.

Bankers are holding continuous meetings almost on a daily basis since last week to discuss the 12 accounts identified by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) earlier this month, to be referred to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

These defaulted companies account for nearly Rs 1.9 lakh crore or 1/4th of the total bad loans in the banking system.

All the defaulting companies observed by the RBI have an outstanding debt of over Rs 5,000 crore and 60 percent of it are classified as a non-performing asset (NPA).

To initiate corporate insolvency, bankers have to file cases against the defaulted companies to the NCLT. Once an account is admitted to the NCLT, the bankers take over the control of the company's Board and appoint an insolvency professional to look after the day-today business.

Meanwhile, a solution is being discussed to revive the company and lenders and borrowers have to finalise the resolution within 180 to 270 days, failing which NCLT will allow liquidation of the assets.

Bankers have already decided to file the case of Lanco Infratech to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) under the IBC, which is publicly announced by the corporate in a regulatory filing.