India Infrastructure Finance Company (UK) Limited (IIFCL UK), the overseas arm of state-owned India Infrastructure Finance Company, has approached the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking insolvency proceedings against Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL) over alleged dues of about ₹1,745 crore. According to reports from Indian Legal News, the petition, filed under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), relates to an alleged default on an external commercial borrowing (ECB) facility. The lender identified April 1, 2018, as the date of default. A Bench comprising Judicial Member Nilesh Sharma and Technical Member Sameer Kakar heard the matter on Wednesday, with the tribunal finding several defects in the insolvency application and granting IIFCL UK seven days to rectify them.
As reported by Indian Legal News, IIFCL's counsel told the tribunal that the total outstanding amount was around $182 million. The lender identified the principal claim as approximately $56.35 million, with the remainder comprising interest. The ECB was repayable through 60 unequal quarterly instalments. IIFCL relied on MMOPL's balance sheets, which it said contained acknowledgements of the outstanding liability and the default. The lender also relied on a default recorded in National E-Governance Services Ltd (NeSL) Form C. Additionally, IIFCL UK placed on record a one-time settlement proposal dated September 6, 2022, and maintained that its ECB exposure remained separate from earlier restructuring proposals. The counsel referred to subsequent acknowledgments in MMOPL's balance sheets and submitted that MMOPL had acknowledged the liability in its balance sheets from year to year.
According to Indian Legal News, the tribunal pointed to several defects in the petition and gave IIFCL UK seven days to rectify them. The key issues included limitation, since the alleged default dates back to April 2018, and the tribunal asked the lender to establish how the insolvency petition remained within the limitation period. The Bench also questioned the inclusion of amounts that became due during the period covered by Section 10A of the IBC, which bars insolvency proceedings for specified defaults arising during the Covid-19 period. The tribunal observed that amounts which have fallen due within the 10A period can never be claimed in an insolvency application and indicated that the application in its existing form could be rejected if the prohibited-period dues remain part of the claim. The Bench also questioned the currency of the claim, noting that although the debt was stated in US dollars, Form 1 requires the amount to be stated in Indian rupees. Counsel agreed to file an amended Form 1.
The current IIFCL UK filing occurs against the backdrop of Mumbai Metro One's documented history of creditor disputes. In 2023, State Bank of India initiated insolvency proceedings against MMOPL to recover ₹416.08 crore, followed by IDBI Bank, with Indian Bank becoming the third lender to move against the company by January 2024. By January 2024, the total principal debt of the lenders' consortium stood at ₹1,711 crore - remarkably close to the ₹1,745 crore IIFCL UK is now separately pursuing. Those earlier proceedings were disposed of by the NCLT in April 2024 after a one-time settlement was reached with all lenders, following an in-principle nod from the Maharashtra state government for the acquisition of the company. IIFCL UK maintains that its ECB exposure is legally distinct from that settled consortium, and that while it gave in-principle support to an earlier joint-lenders restructuring proposal, its own board never finally approved it.
