How women insolvency professionals have fared in IBC: An analysis in numbers

How have women insolvency professionals (IPs) fared in the last four years of the existence of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC)? Women have actively participated in the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) in different capacity – as insolvency professionals, lawyers, consultants, etc. However, the role, of insolvency professionals is the most crucial in the CIRP process.

And it is heartening to know that many women IPs have shown that they are equal to the task, even if their number is low compared to their male counterpart. According to the quarterly newsletter published by Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI), out of 3,182 IPs registered as on 30 September 2020, 291, or 9%, of them were women.

While women IPs have been part of the CIRP in different capacities – as interim resolution professionals, resolution professionals and liquidator – for simplicity sake, we are considering for our analysis only those women insolvency professionals who have helped successful resolution of the CIRP.

Role in resolution

According to IBBI, so far 277 cases have been resolved (as on 30 September 2020), of which 19 were supervised by women insolvency professionals. These (19) cases together accounted for Rs 21,000 crore of financial creditors’ claims, and resulted in recovery of close to Rs 4,800 crore, a recovery rate of 23%.

The most prolific of the women IPs, who handled resolution of these cases include Mamta Binani and Vandana Garg. They handled a total of six CIRPs (four by Mamta Binani and two by Vandana Garg), which together involved Rs 18,980 crore of financial Creditors’ claim and recovery of Rs 4,514 crore.

Vandana Garg is the only women Insolvency professional who handled one of the Big 12 NPA cases referred to by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for resolution through IBC.

Vandana Garg was the resolution professional in the CIRP of Jyoti Structures, where financial creditors had claims of Rs 7,365 crore. Jyoti Structures was successfully bid by a group of HNIs led by Sharad Sanghi for Rs 3,684 crore, yielding a recovery rate 50%.

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Vandana Garg’s other CIRP case which ended in a resolution was GVR Infra Projects, in which Rs 2,271 crore of financial creditors’ money was stuck. GVR Infra Projects was acquired by UV ARC for Rs 352 crore, a recovery rate of just over 15.5%.

Mamta Binani handled the CIRP of Deccan Chronicle Holdings, which owed Rs 8,180 crore to financial creditors. Deccan Chronicle was acquired by SREI Multiple Asset Investment Trust (Vision India Fund) for a sum of Rs 358 crore, a recovery rate of 4.37%.

Among Mamta Binani’s other big cases included Synergies Dooray Automotive, which owed Rs 927 crore to financial creditors. The resolution yielded only Rs 54 crore in recovery for financial creditors. This was also the first CIRP to see resolution.

Charu Desai was at the helm of resolution of Calyx Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals, which owed Rs 1,418 crore to financial creditors. The financial creditors could recover only Rs 68 crore, or 4.82%, through the resolution process.

Most of the other CIRPs ending in resolution, and where a woman RP was at the helm involved less than Rs 1,000 crore of bankers’ claims.

Women IPs at the helm of CIRPs ending in resolution

Name of Corporate Debtor	Admitted Claims of FCs (Rs cr)	Resolution Amount for FCs (Rs cr)	% Recovery	Successful Resolution Applicant	Resolution professional
Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd	8,180.65	357.5	4.37	SREI Multiple Asset Investment Trust (Vision India Fund)	Mamta Binani
Jyoti Structures	7,364.52	3684	50.02	Group of HNIs led by Sharad Sanghi	Vandana Garg
GVR Infra Projects Limited	2,271.08	352	15.5	UV ARC	Vandana Garg
Calyx Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd	1,418.37	68.3	4.82	Consortium of Khilari Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd & Topnotch Chemicals	Charu Desai
Synergies Dooray Automotive Ltd.	972.15	54.7	3.91	Synergies Castings ltd	Mamta Binani
Palogix Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd.	154.39	56.84	18.83	Sanjay Kumar Mishra (JFC Finance)	Mamta Binani
Solidaire India Limited	133.87	1.2	0.90		J Karthika
Rave Scans Pvt. Ltd.	122.22	52.64	43.07	Rahul Jain	Ritu Rastogi
Noble Explochem Limited	106.12	57.3	54.00	IPCA Lab	Prajakta Menezes
Aster Building Solutions Pvt Ltd	66.72	56.25	84.31	YAP Trading Pvt Ltd & Pollent Ecosmart Buildsys	Padmasri Appana
Pellet-Energy Systems Private Limited	43.89	20.07	45.73	Abellon Clean Energy jointly with Bharat Sharma	Reshma Mittal
Aristo Texcon Pvt. Ltd.	36.32	8.51	23.43	Jagganath Financial Advisory Pvt Ltd	Mamta Binani
International Book House Private Limited	24.63	8.7	35.32	Nitrex Chemicals India Limited	Bhavi Shreyansh Shah
Royal Splendour Developers Private Limited	21.31	1.2	5.63	Urban Tree Infrastructure	Kavita Surana
Shree Raghav Ispat (India) Pvt Ltd	19.78	5.5	27.81	Amarsons Pearls and Jewels	Kalpana G
V S Texmills Private Limited	16.31	4.44	27.22	Chamaria Fshions Pvt Ltd	Bhavi Shreyansh Shah
Ciscons Projects Private Limited	10.49	3.85	36.70	Sasi Kanth Vallipalli	Sandhya T
Fourth Dimension Solutions Limited	9.4	3.54	37.66	Linkstar Infosys and Dhaval Mistry	Pooja Bahry
Nandan Hotels Ltd.	No financial creditors	0	NA	Promoters of Nandan Hotels	Medha Kulkarni