PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, June 27: The revival hope of the city’s ailing Incab Industries Limited got a shot in the arm with the Kolkata-based National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) today allowing Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Group for moving ahead with its resolution plan.
During a hearing the Kolkata- bench of NCLT today asked Vedanta Group, which had last year submitted an expression of interest for the ailing company’s takeover to submit its detailed revival package with Pankaj Kumar Tibrewal, the resolution professional (RP) of Incab Industries.
The next NCLT hearing is scheduled for July 22.
Sources said NCLT also asked the Resolution Professional to clear all land-related issues in the next 10 days.
Notably, Incab Industries is based on land which was subleased by Tata Steel.
Vedanta Group is headed by Anil Agarwal who is the chairman of Vedanta Resources Plc, a company he founded in 1976. The company started as a cable manufacturer and went on to be listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2003. Agarwal, however, took the company private in October 2019.
In September last year, three entities – Tata Steel Long Products Limited, Vedanta Limited and One City Infrastructure Private Limited of New Delhi- had submitted their expression of interest in response to a notice issued in this regard by Pankaj Kumar Tibrewal, the resolution professional (RP) of Incab, appointed by Kolkata bench of National Company Law Tribunal.
Various unions of Incab Industries were hopeful of the company’s revival over this latest development.
“We want the company to be revived and are against any liquidation or winding up moves. With NCLT approving and allowing Vedanta Group things look optimistic. The committee of creditors ( CoC) of Incab, the corporate debtor has also approved the proposal of Vedanta ” said Aloke Sen, assistant secretary of Incab Employees Association.
The ailing Incab Industries has around 900 workers on its rolls who are deprived of their salaries for over two decades.
In the mid-1990s, Malaysian promoter Leader Universal Holdings Berhad took over the company, but it started suffering losses and slid deeper into the red.
Ultimately it had to be referred to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) in 1999. Later, the case was also taken up for hearing at the Appellate Authority for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (AAIFR).
However, both the statutory bodies were dissolved on December 1, 2016, paving the way for the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), which helps in the revival process of sick industries.
All eyes are now fixed on the next NCLT hearing on July 22.
