The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has admitted an insolvency resolution application against Indira Container Terminal Pvt Ltd and has appointed Dinesh Kumar Aggarwal as interim resolution professional of the company.
Mumbai-based Indira Container Terminal (ICTPL) is a joint venture between listed infra firm AJR Infra And Tolling Ltd (erstwhile Gammon Infrastructure Projects Ltd) and Spanish port operation and logistic behemoth Noatum Ports Sociedad Limitada (formerly Dragados SPL).
The public sector lender Canara Bank approached the tribunal on February 13, 2023, after the company failed to repay its dues of Rs 312 crore including outstanding principal and interest.
“The debt and default stand established and there is no reason to deny the admission of the Petition,” said the division bench of Justice VG Bisht and a technical member Prabhat Kumar. “Because of this, this Adjudicating Authority admits this Petition and orders initiation of CIRP against the corporate debtor (Indira Container Terminal),” added the bench in its May 9 order.
Before the tribunal’s order, the corporate debtor argued that MbPT (Mumbai Port Trust) was required to perform its obligations and hand over the said assets to ICTPL to enable it to perform its share of obligations under the LA (license agreement).
“The LA required both MbPT and ICTPL to perform obligations within specific time limits for implementation of the project. However, due to defaults by MbPT in fulfilling its obligations, ICTPL could not undertake its share of obligations.
The company also said that it has submitted an interim claim of Rs 904 crore to MbPT for reimbursement of additional costs on account of the delay, which have been rejected by the trust authorities.
“The delays of over 13 years by MbPT increased the project cost substantially. From the originally envisaged cost of Rs 1015 crores, the envisaged project cost is estimated at over Rs 2500 crores,” said the company to the tribunal.
Countering this, the lender argued that despite the monthly payment received by the applicant (Canara Bank), the outstanding amount of the applicant is Rs 113 crore as principal amount and Rs 225 crore as interest including other monies of Rs 339 crore.
“Moreover, present promoters/ directors are not in a position to implement the Projects as they are not infusing their funds as they promised under the financing documents with the lenders including the Applicant,” argued the lender to the tribunal.
The project was awarded in 2007 and was to be commissioned by 2010. It is a PPP on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis.
According to the company’s website, as the delay in commencing the operations was beyond the limits set by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the lenders classified the account as a Non-Performing Asset (NPA). As a result, the lenders halted further disbursals of loans resulting in the construction work coming to a complete standstill.
