NCLAT Chairman Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya was at his witty best at a recent insolvency law conference in the Capital. He wanted the ‘Committee of Creditors’ under IBC process to be a “good barber” and eschew the new ‘007’ haircut style (although loved by millions of youngsters) in its decision making.
So what has ‘007’ haircut got to do with insolvency and IBC process?. Well ‘haircut’ has a different meaning in insolvency proceedings and loosely refers to the hit a lender is willing to take to get the financially-stressed company back on track.
Mukhopadhaya quipped that a CoC should strive for a “handsome haircut” where both financial creditors and operational creditors get proportionate treatment and good deal from resolution. It should not be a ‘007’ haircut where the financial creditors get to take away the cream and almost nothing is left for the operational creditors. After all, both financial and operational creditors are important for the sustenance of the enterprise. It’s hard to disagree with this view.
The favoured FM
With formation of the new government just three weeks away, office attendants in the Finance Ministry have new topic for discussion — who will be the new Finance Minister? Will the present one continue or will a high profile politician be third time lucky?
The current Finance Minister is known to be a people’s person. The staff in North Block love him, a key reason being he doesn’t stay late in office, unless circumstances demand and also doesn’t keep people guessing through the day about his plans.
What about the other candidate? If he comes it will be longer working hours, and unpredictable lunch breaks. This fear is even making some staff consider new postings. No guesses on who the favoured candidate is.
Seriously funny
An exporter of a value-added commodity was miffed when a senior bureaucrat in an economic ministry listened to his complaints of smuggling of the raw material but refused to show concern. As the exporter explained that smugglers were buying the commodity in the country and taking it across the border either surreptitiously or by under-invoicing it, he was asked if the Indian suppliers were getting paid. When the exporter confirmed that payments were being made, the bureaucrat then wondered what the problem was. Seeing the exasperated exporter the bureaucrat let out a guffaw indicating that he was joking. But if action is not taken soon the joke could very well be on the bureaucrat!
It’s the NBFCs, stupid
It is widely known that hundreds of automobile dealers are closing shop across the country, leading to job losses. But main reason for the closure is not the poor consumer demand as is made out to be in certain quarters, said a veteran banker. The real reason is that non banking finance companies — which had filled the space vacated by banks and supported the consumer boom of recent years — are absent from many automobile dealerships in recent months, thanks to the liquidity squeeze post the IL&FS blowout. No wonder, you don’t see representatives of NBFCs at car dealerships egging you to go for a SUV when you had your eyes on a sedan.
Flies don’t care if it’s FSSAI CEO
Flies can be very annoying particularly when food is laid. But dealing with files in the presence of the the CEO of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) can be particularly embarrassing.
At a recent event, where Pawan Kumar Agarwal, CEO, FSSAI was present, the food counter had so many flies that those serving it had a hard time dealing with them. Our Delhi Bureau
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