Noida: Jaypee Infratech has failed to meet the deadline given by the Supreme Court to deposit Rs. 1,000 crore with the registrar of the company. The Supreme Court had directed the promoters of the company to deposit the amount by June 15.
If the sources are to be believed, the company is working on alternative plan where it is in discussion with YES Bank and Deutsche Bank to secure fund.
According to a top official of Jaypee, the company will be submitting an appropriate proposal before the Supreme Court which would be in the interest of the homebuyers.
On May 16, the apex court had directed Jaypee Infratech to deposit Rs. 1,000 crore with the registrar of the company in a month’s time. This amount had to be deposited in addition to Rs. 2,000 crore for which order was given last year. Till date, the company has been able to deposit only Rs. 750 crore.
As per the information given by the source, it was next to impossible for the company to pay Rs. 1,000 crore in a month. The source said that if the company would have so much money then it wouldn’t have been in this situation, therefore, now the company is looking forward to submit a fresh proposal with the Supreme Court after the summer break is over.
As per the alternate plan, the company is in discussion with YES Bank and Deutsche Bank for securing funds. Notably, earlier also both the banks had shown interest in funding the Jaiprakash company.
The company had earlier submitted an Rs 10,000-crore proposal to its creditors under which it also promised to complete the remaining 18,000-19,000 flats in three years. The new proposal is likely to centre around that plan, another source said.
A total amount of Rs. 9,094.31 crore is to be paid by Jaypee to a consortium of more than 12 banks. Out of these banks, IDBI alone shares about 44.3 per cent of share in the total debt.
Hopes for the Gaurs have seesawed in the last six one year as the Gaurs try to salvage the Jaiprakash subsidiary that holds vast tracts of land in Noida, Agra and along the 167-km-long Yamuna Expressway. There are some 18,000-19,000 homebuyers awaiting the delivery of their flats for seven-to-eight years.
Jaypee Infratech was one of the 12 companies in the first ever list that Reserve Bank of India prepared as cases that needed an immediate resolution of their debt under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. Jaypee’s case was referred to the Allahabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal which appointed an insolvency resolution professional to prepare a rescue plan for the company. The 270-day deadline to find a solution to the company’s debt problems under IBC lapsed on May 12.
As per IBC, a company has to be sent for liquidation if no solution is found within that time but not so in this case. This is because the company’s matter was also being heard at the SC under ‘public interest’.
In further attempt to secure the interest of hapless home buyers who have booked houses in the various real estate projects of Jaypee, the government brought them at par with financial creditors.
Under the previous code, banks, being secured lenders to the company, had the first right to the company’s cash and other assets. The law is still not clear whether home buyers will be treated as secured or unsecured lenders but certainly, they are in a better position now and with the matter being at SC, home buyers can still keep their hopes alive.
There were three bidders in the race to buy Jaypee Infratech — Lakshadweep, the Adani group and Kotak Realty Fund-Cube Highways.
Though only Lakshadweep – a joint venture of Sudhir Valia-led Suraksha Asset Reconstruction Company and Mumbai-based Dosti Realty were left in the run but the offer was rejected by the committee of creditors because the offer of Rs. 7,000 crore was too low according to them.
