

In a shift, lenders begin to dominate initiation of bankruptcy cases
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: Financial creditors are now leading the charge at bankruptcy tribunals, overtaking the vendors and service providers who once dominated filings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). The shift marks a turning point in how the law is being used: less as a pressure tactic for recovering trade dues and more as a lender-driven restructuring framework.
Data from the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) shows that banks and other financial creditors accounted for 47% of cases admitted between April and December, compared with 33% by operational creditors. The rest of the cases were initiated by the companies themselves. In the December quarter, the difference is starker: 67% of the cases were initiated by financial creditors and 30% by operational creditors.
This is huge variance with the average of 44% by financial creditors and 43% by operational creditors in the FY17-25 period, data showed. An analysis by the IBBI in its latest quarterly update said that cumulatively, operational creditors had started bankruptcy proceedings in 80% of the cases where the default is less than ₹1 crore and 80% of defaults of above ₹10 crore were taken to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) by financial creditors. The year-wise data on the magnitude of payment defaults across types of creditors is not available.
The trend of operational creditors becoming less aggressive in triggering bankruptcy process started in FY21, after the government raised the payment default threshold under the IBC from ₹100,000 to ₹1 crore in March 2020. But it took time for this to become pronounced as was seen in the December quarter of the current fiscal year. “It seems that the IBC has now
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