Supreme Court quashes 2018 RBI circular on resolving bad debt

03 Apr 2019 Evaluate

In a major relief to distressed power companies, the Supreme Court has quashed a tough 2018 Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circular on resolving bad debt under which a company is declared bankrupt even if it misses repayment schedule by a day. But, this could delay bankruptcy proceedings. An early resolution of stressed loans impacted by the circular is expected to be hit following the verdict that gives flexibility to lenders to restructure debts.

The court, in its 84-page verdict, held that the generic circular directing banks to take recourse to Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) was beyond the powers of Section 35AA of the Banking Regulation Act. It said reference to IBC can be made only on a case to case basis, and there cannot be a general direction in this regard. The circular has prescribed rules for recognising one-day defaults by large corporates and initiating insolvency action as a remedy.

The RBI on February 12, 2018, had issued a circular on the resolution of stressed assets revised framework -- commonly known as February 12 circular. According to the circular, lenders had to classify a loan account as stressed if there was even a day of default. The bankers had to mandatorily refer all accounts with over Rs 2,000 crore loans to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) or the bankruptcy court if they failed to resolve the problem within 180 days of default. The circular also said that if a resolution was not found by August 27, Non-Performing Asset (NPA) accounts should be sent to bankruptcy courts. Power sector was the worst hit by the circular and so were companies in the steel, textile, sugar and shipping sector.

Besides, Moody's Investors Service has said that voiding of the circular is credit negative for Indian banks. It said the circular had significantly tightened stressed loan recognition and resolution for large borrowers. But, with the voiding, this may now have to be watered down. The resolution of stressed loans impacted by the circular will be further delayed as the process may have to be started afresh.

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