Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 – Journey So Far: A Survey

Abstract

It has been over two years since the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 was implemented in India. The Code has brought about a dramatic change in the manner in which the insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings in the country would be handled in a time bound manner. The Code is expected to resolve the non performing asset (NPA) crisis and the resultant slowdown in the availability of credit in the economy . An entirely new ecosystem has come into being as a result of which a host of opportunities have opened up for finance and legal professionals .Since the implementation of the code various applications initiating Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process ( CIRP) have been filed by the corporate debtors, the financial creditors and the operational creditors. The CIRP’s cases admitted, the number of resolution professionals registered , amount of recoveries made by the financial creditors in the cases resolved so far have been progressively increasing over the years whereas in certain cases the banks have had to take a sizeable haircut also. In order to understand the journey of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 thus far a questionnaire based survey was carried out amongst the registered insolvency professionals in the country to ascertain their views on the various facets of the Code and the difficulties faced in it’s implementation. A structured questionnaire was framed with 18 research questions, these questions were close ended and were a combination of Dichotomous, Multiple choice and on Likert scale. The responses were codified and analyzed. The research paper presents this analysis along with the interpretations for the benefit of the readers.