Nclt To Next Hear Insolvency Plea Against Future Retail On 12 May

During today’s hearing, the counsel for FRL told NCLT that the firm needs more time to file a reply to the Bank of India’s petition. 

The bench, headed by Pradeep Narhari Deshmukh and Shyam Babu Gautam, postponed the matter for further hearing to 12 May.

Bank of India had recently moved the tribunal seeking to initiate insolvency resolution proceedings against FRL, which has defaulted on loan repayments.

The NCLT hearing on Thursday also came against the backdrop of Reliance calling off its proposed ₹24,713 crore-deal with Future Group after secured creditors voted against it. 

Under the deal, which was announced in August 2020, Future Group was to sell 19 companies operating in retail, wholesale, logistics and warehousing segments to Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL).

FRL has defaulted on payment of ₹5,322.32 crore to its lenders on account of the ongoing litigations with e-commerce major Amazon and other related issues.

Bank of India, which has filed the insolvency petition, is the lead banker in the consortium of lenders of FRL. Last month, the lender through a public notice claimed its charge over the assets of FRL and warned the public against dealing with assets of the Kishore Biyani-led Future group firm.

Several Future Group companies, including FRL, had entered into agreements with their respective lenders in terms of the RBI circular dated August 6, 2020, in which a resolution framework for COVID-related stress was announced.

Future Group’s deal with Reliance was opposed by Amazon and litigation is going on at various forums.