IBC at 10: Reform or corporate write-off?
In the last 10 years, India’s Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), started in 2016, has turned out to be a scam or a legalized way to provide a huge haircut to big industrialists to get off from their dues to banks. Dues to banks mean siphoning of public funds. A very recent example of this “magic” happened in Indiabulls vs. media baron Subhash Chandra, where thousands of crores of rupees from many banks were involved. National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has reduced more than Rs.22,000 crore in dues to a meagre Rs.6.25 crore, and the ultimate losers are the banks and LIC Housing Finance in the Haryana-based Indiabulls and Subhash Chandra’s real estate deals, which have gone for a huge loss. Subhash Chandra and his firms were personal guarantors of the loan-taking firms, mostly now fizzled out.
Recently, IBBI (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India) has published a report, exposing similar huge haircuts to big corporates through IBC 2016 (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code). As per the IBBI Report, in the past decade, Rs.14.14 lakh crore in dues were cut down to Rs.4.32 lakh crore through the controversial IBC Code of 2016. In other words, a clean haircut is given, or the dues of debtors are allowed to be erased from the dues book. A simple cleaning using a legal façade for the big debtors.
“Since the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code was enacted in 2016, creditors have routinely accepted substantial reductions in what they were owed in order to resolve distressed companies. By March 2026, the cumulative admitted claims in companies for which resolution plans had been approved had reached approximately Rs.14.14 lakh crore, while the amount realisable by creditors stood at about Rs.4.32 lakh crore,” said the 15-page report, detailing major haircut cases.
The IBBI report points out that:
The amounts above refer to the claims and realisations reported by IBBI for the relevant resolutions. DHFL was resolved under the special insolvency framework for financial service providers. Those five companies alone account for roughly Rs.3 lakh crore of admitted creditor claims. Yet their outcomes varied enormously.
The detailed 15-page IBBI report is published below this report:
IBBI Report: A Decade of India’s Insolvency Clean-Up
For all the latest updates, download PGurus App.
- A decade of India’s insolvency clean-up: Rs.14.14 lakh crore in dues reduced to Rs.4.32 lakh crore under the controversial IBC Code, 2016 - August 27, 2026
- ED freezes assets worth Rs.33 crore after raids against Gurugram realty group - August 27, 2026
- FM to leave for 8-day official trip to Canada, US; focus on deepening bilateral ties - August 24, 2026
