Two lenders to Reliance Capital (RCap) – Credit Suisse and Axis Bank – have dragged the debt-laden firm and the RBI-appointed administrator to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), seeking recovery of debts worth Rs 760 crore.

In their application, the lenders said that their claims were not considered by the RBI-appointed administrator as part of the company’s ongoing insolvency process. The firms, which wanted to be treated as financial creditors, also sought inclusion in the Committee of Creditors (CoC), sources close to the development said.

Credit Suisse is seeking about Rs 660 crore in dues from RCap and Axis Bank about Rs 100 crore. NCLT’s Mumbai bench is slated to hear the matters separately on May 9 and May 10.

Creditors of the former Anil Ambani group company were seeking Rs 23,666 crore in dues.

Meanwhile, RCap’s CoC – which met today – has finalised the Request for Resolution Proposal (RFRP) document.

As per the RFRP, prospective suitors for different subsidiaries of the debt-laden firm will have to first form consortiums and then submit bids, but only on an all-cash basis. However, bidders who want to bid for Reliance Capital at the company level, have the option to either place bids on an all-cash basis or deferred payment structure.

The RFRP would be tabled for members’ approval at its next meeting, following which it will be shared with the prospective bidders who had expressed interests. The original deadline to issue the RFRP document was April 5.

At its meeting, the CoC also decided to seek a three-months extension to the June 3 deadline for the completion of the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP). The lenders are slated to vote for extending the date in its next week’s meeting.  If approved, the lenders will get time till September 3 to close the process.

An extension has been sought as the CoC feels the present time-frame is not enough to complete the entire insolvency process.

In its Tuesday meeting, the CoC wanted bidders to form consortiums and submit resolution plans for the entire firm. The lenders, led by Yes Bank, also want the investors to submit cash bids, rather than deferred payment structures.

This was against the earlier bankruptcy process of RCap, where the bidders had two options – either to bid for the entire assets of the company or one or more of its clusters (subsidiaries). The subsidiaries are Reliance General Insurance, Reliance Nippon Life Insurance, Reliance Asset Reconstruction Company, Reliance Securities, Reliance Commercial Finance and Reliance Home Finance. The confusion arose as IBC norms prohibit calling bids for firms that are not under financial stress.

In March, an RBI-appointed administrator received 55 bids for RCap’s insolvency proceedings, of which 22 were for the entire company. The applicants included a consortium led by Piramal Group, Yes Bank, Zurich Insurance Company, IndusInd International Holdings, Jindal Power and Darwin Platform Group of Companies chairman Ajay Harinath Singh among others.

On November 29, 2021, the Reserve Bank of India superseded Reliance Capital’s board following payment defaults and governance issues, and appointed Nageswara Rao Y as the administrator for the bankruptcy process. The regulator also filed an application for initiation of CIRP against the company.