The Delhi bench of the National Company Law Tribunal on Friday ordered bankruptcy proceedings against realty developer Supertech for default on payment of Rs 431 crore to a consortium of banks.
The NCLT appointed Hitesh Goel as the insolvency resolution professional (IRP) for Supertech, accepting a petition filed by Union Bank of India, one of the consortium members.
“We are satisfied that the present application is complete in all respects and the applicant financial creditor is entitled to claim its outstanding financial debt from the corporate debtor and that there has been default in payment of the financial debt,” the NCLT said in the order, a copy of which ET has seen.
According to the petition, Supertech had in 2013 availed of a credit facility of Rs 350 crore from the consortium of banks to part fund its Eco Village II project in Greater Noida. Union Bank’s exposure to the credit facility was Rs 150 crore.
As per the petition, Supertech was irregular in repaying the debt and completely stopped paying from July 2019. The amount claimed in the petition includes interest as well.
The company, which is in the process of demolishing two towers at another Noida project on a Supreme Court order, has multiple under-construction projects in the National Capital Region.
A lawyer, who represents around 1,500 homebuyers of various Supertech projects, said the homebuyers should immediately file their claims with the IRP. “This will enable them to ascertain their claim in the company and to be a part of the committee of creditors (CoC). Since all the crucial decisions of the company will now be taken after the due approval of the CoC, this will enable the homebuyers to be instrumental in revival of the company,” said Aditya Parolia, partner at PSP Legal.
Supertech said it would approach the appellate tribunal against the order.
“In the interest of homebuyers, preference was given to construction and delivery of projects over repayment of bank dues which can be fulfilled after project completion. As all the projects of the company are financially viable, there is no chance of loss to any party or financial creditor. The order will not affect operations of any other Supertech Group Company,” the company said in a statement.
Supertech also said the NCLT order would not impact the construction at its ongoing projects or the operation of the company.
“We have a strong record of delivering more than 40,000 flats during the last seven years and we shall continue to give delivery to our buyers under our “Mission Completion – 2022” under which we have undertaken a target of delivering 7,000 units by December 2022,” Supertech said.
Projects under other Supertech group companies like Supernova, ORB, Golf Country, Hues, Azalia, Esquare, Valley, Basera, Metropolis Mall, Pentagon Mall and Hotels are not affected by this order, the company said.
An industry expert said the development would help push demand towards stronger developers. “Now buyers will avoid products from tier-2 and tier-3 developers and stick to projects by Grade-A players in order to avoid any execution risks. Definitely, smaller developers may henceforth find it difficult to get buyers for their projects,” said Prashant Thakur, senior director & head of research at property consultancy firm ANAROCK Group.
