Jaypee Group’s flagship firm Jaiprakash Associates has defaulted on loans of Rs 4,059 crore, comprising both the principal and interest amount. In a regulatory filing, Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL) said the company on December 31 defaulted on repayments of principal amount Rs 1,713 crore and interest of Rs 2,346 crore. The loans pertained to various banks and the nature of obligation is fund based working capital, non fund based working capital, term loans and FCCB (foreign currency convertible bonds). In September 2018, ICICI Bank filed an insolvency petition against JAL but the matter is still pending before the Allahabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). The country’s biggest lender SBI had in September this year moved the NCLT against JAL, claiming a total default of Rs 6,893.15 crore as on September 15, 2022. Last month, JAL and its group firms announced the sale of its remaining cement assets to Dalmia Bharat Ltd at an enterprise value of Rs 5,666 crore and exit from the sector as part of its strategy to reduce debt. Earlier, as part of its debt resolution exercise, JAL had sold more than 20 million tonnes per annum cement capacity to Aditya Birla group firm UltraTech Cement between 2014 and 2017. In 2015, Jaypee group had sold its controlling stake of more than 2 million tonnes cement capacity to Dalmia Group. JAL’s Executive Chairman Manoj Gaur had said the company has been taking steps to reduce its debt and repay lenders. ”In order to repay the loans of lenders and concentrate in its other core areas of working, JAL has decided to divest from cement business completely with the sale of cement capacity of 9.4 million tonnes per annum in favour of Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd,” he had said. Gaur had said JAL would further cement its credentials of being a trustworthy organisation in infrastructure segment of the country in times to come.
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