KR Srivats A committee appointed by the Corporate Affairs Ministry (MCA)to recommend rules and regulatory framework for the smooth implementation of cross-border insolvency provisions under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) has submitted its report.

The report was submitted by Committee Chairman KP Krishnan, a retired IAS officer, to the outgoing MCA Secretary Injeti Srinivas on Thursday, sources said.

MS Sahoo, Chairperson of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI), was also present at the time of submission of the committee report, it is learnt.

This panel was constituted by the MCA in the third week of January this year. It was given three months time to submit the report. However, in early March the panel’s scope was expanded to cover aspects relating to enterprise group insolvency on a cross border basis.

The panel in its report submitted on Thursday, however, refrained from making any recommendations on enterprise group insolvency. This will now be the second part of the panel’s work, which will be completed in another three months or so, it is learnt.

It may be recalled that the second report of the Insolvency Laws Committee (ILC) headed by MCA Secretary Injeti Srinivas had in 2018 recommended the adoption of the Uncitral Model Law of Cross Border Insolvency, 1997, as it provided for a comprehensive framework to deal with cross-border insolvency issues.

Although this ILC had in 2018 proposed a framework for cross border insolvency that would have enabled the country to deal with Indian companies having foreign assets and vice versa, it did not provide for a framework for dealing with enterprise groups as it was then still a work-in progress with Uncitral.

Later, in September 2018, the Uncitral Model Law for enterprise group insolvency was firmed up and therefore this was also included in the terms of reference of the Krishnan-led committee.