HDFC Bank to Challenge NCLT's ₹6.5 Crore Chandra Repayment Plan
India's largest lender says its admitted claim was just 3.2% of ₹22,006 crore total. The 99.97% haircut has drawn government caveats about personal guarantor resolutions.
Alpha Score of 39 reflects weak overall profile with poor momentum, weak value, moderate quality, moderate sentiment.
HDFC Bank plans to appeal the National Company Law Tribunal’s approval of a ₹6.5 crore repayment plan for Zee Group founder Subhash Chandra, against admitted claims of ₹22,006.57 crore in his personal insolvency case.
India’s largest private lender said in a statement its admitted claim was only 3.2 percent of the total stated amount. The facility was inherited from HDFC Ltd.
“With regard to the referred NCLT matter, HDFC Bank’s admitted claim was only 3.2 per cent of the total stated claim amount,” the bank said.
The NCLT approved a plan that lets creditors collect roughly ₹6.5 crore against admitted claims totaling ₹22,006.57 crore. That works out to a haircut of about 99.97 percent, or three paise for every ₹100 owed.
HDFC Bank opposed the plan and voted against it, the lender said in a media statement Thursday. The bank said it is exploring an appeal at the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal. It has not yet filed one.
The case began with a ₹170-crore loan taken by Vivek Infracon, for which Chandra was a personal guarantor. When the loan defaulted, Indiabulls Housing Finance, now renamed Sammaan Capital, started insolvency proceedings against him in 2022. The Supreme Court upheld relevant IBC provisions in November 2023, and the proceedings were revived in February 2024.
Government sources said the ₹22,006 crore figure does not represent money Chandra personally borrowed. It reflects claims admitted against him as a personal guarantor for loans taken by several Essel and Zee-linked companies. The proceeding is against Chandra in his capacity as a guarantor, not against the borrowing companies.
Chandra defended the repayment plan, saying his personal assets stood at ₹31.79 crore in 2024, including a residential property worth about ₹25 crore. In a statement Thursday, he said the total claim against him in the proceedings is only ₹3,992 crore by the objectors of the plan, not ₹22,000 crore. Of that, ₹620 crore has already been settled, leaving ₹3,372 crore, he said. The borrowing entities for which he gave guarantees repaid about ₹43,000 crore of the roughly ₹45,000 crore borrowed as of January 2019, according to his statement.
“There is no personal borrowing by Dr. Subhash Chandra from any of the creditors named in the order or from any other creditor/lender. He only signed personal guarantees,” the statement said.
The NCLT observed that if the plan is approved and the debtor’s insolvency is resolved, putting him back on his feet, the objectors would ultimately stand a better chance of recovering their debts directly from the principal debtors.
Government sources stressed that the case is an exceptional personal-guarantor resolution and should not be seen as representative of recoveries under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. The reported 99.97 percent haircut is not a loss on ₹22,000 crore of bank loans, they said. The reduction relates specifically to what can be recovered from Chandra as a personal guarantor.
The matter will now go back to the original division bench for a formal order in line with the majority opinion, as required under Section 419(5) of the Companies Act, 2013.
HDFC Bank’s HDB stock page carries an Alpha Score of 41, labeled Mixed, reflecting the lender’s exposure to the case and the broader legal uncertainty around personal guarantor resolutions.
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