Indiabulls Housing Finance won't challenge NCLT approval of Subhash Chandra repayment plan

Mumbai: Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd, now known as Samaan Capital, has decided not to challenge the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)’s approval of Zee group founder and chairman emeritus Subhash Chandra’s repayment plan.

Replying to queries emailed by Mint, Samaan Capital said the facilities extended to various entities related to Chandra were “secured in nature”, and added that the housing finance company, through its enforcement and recovery measures, had collected an amount exceeding the amount originally disbursed.

“… the Company has, through proactive enforcement and recovery measures including sale of pledged shares, actions under SARFAESI, recovered an aggregate amount materially exceeding the amount originally disbursed, including recoveries that took place after admission of claims under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Court (IBC),” said the company in the reply.

“Accordingly, the amount receivable under the repayment plan in IBC proceedings against the personal guarantor should not be viewed as representing the Company’s total recovery against the underlying exposure. Therefore, the order passed by the NCLT does not have any material impact on our recoveries,” it added.

Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (SARFAESI Act) empowers banks and other financial institutions to directly auction residential or commercial properties pledged with them to recover loans from borrowers.

Indiabulls Housing Finance was the financial creditor that triggered Chandra’s personal insolvency proceedings in 2022 over a ₹170-crore loan to Vivek Infracon, which Chandra had personally guaranteed. The NCLT admitted the insolvency proceedings against Chandra in April 2024.

Challenging order

On Thursday, Mint reported that HDFC Bank was considering challenging the NCLT order before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). HDFC had opposed Chandra’s repayment plan and voted against it. The bank expects to recover about 3.2% of its total claim under the plan.

On 25 August, the NCLT approved a repayment plan proposed by Chandra, the chairman and founder of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, under which he will pay ₹6.5 crore. Notably, under the repayment plan, ₹6.25 crore will be paid to creditors, while another ₹25 lakh will be used to cover insolvency process costs. Together, the two amounts total ₹6.5 crore, which is the overall amount proposed under Chandra’s repayment plan.

Mint first reported on Tuesday that the third judicial member of the insolvency court, Nilesh Sharma, who was included in February 2026 by the NCLT president, approved the repayment plan.

The voting record in the order copy shows several creditors, including HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Canara Bank, RBL Bank and Union Bank of India, opposed the repayment plan.

Queries emailed to RBL Bank, Canara Bank, Axis Bank, LIC Housing remain unanswered.

Government sources told Mint that the Subhash Chandra case should not be seen as Chandra personally taking loans worth thousands of crores. The insolvency case is against him because he had given personal guarantees for loans taken by several Essel and Zee-linked companies.

The sources said only about ₹2,574 crore of the claims relate to loans for which Chandra had given a personal guarantee when the loans were originally taken. Most of his other guarantees were given later as additional security.

Chandra, in a statement on Thursday, said he had never personally borrowed money from the lenders. “There is no personal borrowing by Dr Subhash Chandra from any of the creditors named in the order or from any other creditor/lender. He only signed personal guarantees,” the statement said.

He said the companies for which he had given guarantees had borrowed nearly ₹45,000 crore as of January 2019, of which about ₹43,000 crore had since been repaid.

Chandra said his net worth was ₹31.79 crore in 2024, including a house worth about ₹25 crore, and that the repayment plan was based on what he could pay from his own assets.

The plan received 80.81% support from creditors by value. HDFC Bank, LIC Housing Finance, Axis Bank, Canara Bank, RBL Bank and Union Bank were among those that opposed it.

The third judicial member’s order considered the plan under Section 114 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. It found some procedural problems but said they were not serious enough to reject the plan.

Sharma said creditors had participated in the process and no sufficient prejudice had been established. He also held that the tribunal should not substitute its own commercial assessment for the decision taken by the required majority of creditors.

To be sure, Sharma’s opinion is not yet the final order. The matter will return to the regular bench for final directions.

Once the plan is finally approved and implemented under Section 114, it will bind creditors under Section 115. Once Chandra completes the repayment plan, he will exit the insolvency process.