As soon as the news came in today's newspaper, there were many Instagram reels and other social media posts by many people claiming that the NCLT pardoned Subhash Chandra's 22000 crores rupees loan and that he only has to pay about ₹6.5 crore of the total, which is only about 0.0003X of the total.
The reels are being circulated as if there is a huge scam going on and as if the current govt is part of this allegedly big scam.
Even the so-called head of the Cockroach Janta Party, who claims to be a Boston graduate and a voice for education reforms, seems like even he made the same claim and misunderstood the figures. Read to the bottom to understand the whole issue.
- Personal Estate Value: Under India's Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), a personal insolvency proceeding evaluates what an individual actually owns. Assessments indicated that [Subhash Chandra's] personal net worth and assets liquidatable under the plan were valued at only a fraction of the total claims. Forcing full bankruptcy would have yielded even less for the lenders.
- Commercial Wisdom of Creditors: Creditors representing 80.81% of the voting share voted to approve the repayment plan. Under the law, the [NCLT's] role is supervisory rather than a substitute for the commercial judgment of lenders. Once a requisite majority of creditors agree that getting a small recovery now is better than a prolonged legal battle with zero outcome, the tribunal binds the dissenting minority to that decision.
- Not a Direct Corporate Loan Write-off: The massive figure of ₹22,006.57 crore does not mean [Subhash Chandra] personally pocketed or borrowed that cash. It represents cumulative claims pulled into his personal insolvency case as a guarantor for various struggling Essel/Zee group companies. [1, 2]
- Primary Borrowers Remain Liable: Settling his personal guarantee liability for ₹6.5 crore does not clear the underlying corporate debts. The actual operating companies and primary borrowers remain legally responsible for the corporate loans, and lenders retain separate legal avenues to recover dues from those corporate entities and their remaining assets. [1]



