49 Listed Firms Disclosed Debt Defaults Worth Rs 69,140 crore as SEBI Deadline Ends

New Delhi: Following the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) November 2019 directives, at least 49 listed companies disclosed loan defaults to stock exchanges on Tuesday. The companies include insolvency-hit Reliance Communication Ltd. (RCom), Jaypee Infratech Ltd., Religare Enterprises Ltd., Hindustan Construction Company Ltd. and Suzlon Energy Ltd among others.

According to the disclosures data filed with Bombay Stock Exchange, compiled by Bloomberg Quint, these firms had defaulted on outstanding debt worth Rs 69,140 crore as of December 31, 2019 against a total indebtedness of Rs 3.66 lakh crore.

As per the market regulator’s directives, in case of default beyond 30 days, listed companies were mandated to disclose the failure to repay within 24 hours of the 30th day. With Tuesday being the deadline for disclosures, the defaulting companies have revealed their indebtedness. It is to be noted that over the last two years, listed companies were delaying to disclosure data on defaults to their investors.

Anil Ambani’s RCom topped the list of defaulters, which reported an outstanding default of Rs 28,825 crore against total indebtedness of Rs 32,575 crore. Currently, RCom is undergoing corporate insolvency resolution process under the supervision of National Company Law Tribunal, Mumbai. Anil Ambani’s another firm’s-- Reliance Naval & Engineering Ltd -- default amount was Rs 9,492 crore against the total debt of Rs 9,534 crore. That is, the firm has defaulted 99.5% of its total debt.

Suzlon energy reported default amount at Rs 7,256 crore, Jaypee Infra defaulted Rs 6,721 crore.

It has been disclosed that out of the 49 defaulting companies, more than half of the total default amount has been disclosed by the top four defaulting companies.

Among other companies in the list are ISMT, a tube manufacturing firm, which defaulted an amount of Rs 3,237.8 crore, JVL Agro Industries reported default amount at Rs 2,027.9 crore, Reliance Power Ltd (Rs 685 crore), National Steel & Agro Industries Ltd (Rs 1,134.8 crore), Religare Enterprises Ltd (Rs 209.1 crore) and Hindustan Construction Company (Rs 286.2 crore) at the end of 2019.

The defaults include non-repayment of debt obligations, including those of non-convertible debentures (NCDs), dues related to fund-based working capital and non-fund based working capital among others.