The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has been informed that it has dismissed the petition against one of the country’s largest sugar manufacturers, Bajaj Hindustan Sugar Ltd, after considering the submissions of the State Bank of India (SBI), the largest lender to the withdrawal of sugar duties. petition.
However, no formal copy of the order has been uploaded yet.
The withdrawal request by SBI has been entertained as the outstanding amount has been paid by the corporate debtor, in this case Bajaj Hindustan Sugar.
While a final copy of the order is still awaited, sources say if the NCLT has indeed dismissed the petition, it will mark the end of the long process in which financial creditors have taken the company to NCLT for non-payment of their dues .
The company owed the banks about Rs 4,771 crore and had availed two debt restructuring programs, leading to steep haircuts by the lenders.
The maximum amount of dues came from SBI, somewhere around Rs 1,192 crore.
The lenders had classified Bajaj Hindustan Sugar as a non-performing asset (NPA) before taking it to the NCLT, throwing the entire sugar sector into turmoil as Bajaj is one of the largest sugar companies in the country.
Bajaj Hindustan Sugar operated over fourteen sugar mills, largely in Uttar Pradesh, making it one of the largest players in the state.
Industry sources said the fate of nearly 0.6 million sugarcane farmers in Uttar Pradesh directly depended on the health of Bajaj-owned sugar mills.
First print: October 25, 2023 | 8:01 PM IST