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Thursday, 1 March 2018

Aircel files for bankruptcy; cites intense competition, unsustainable debt and increased losses

Aircel has filed for bankruptcy protection under Section 10 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in Mumbai, after mounting losses and Malaysia's Maxis Communications who has 74% stake in the company decided not to infuse more funds. Aircel said that agreement could not be reached with respect to restructuring of its debt and funding after discussions with the financial lenders and shareholders. Aircel said that is is not proceeding for liquidation, and will find best possible resolution for the current situation. If NCLT accepts Aircel's request, it will be placed under a court-appointed insolvency resolution professional, who will get 180 days that can be extended by another 90 days to work out a plan to repay lenders. If that doesn't happen after the 270-day period, it will be declared bankrupt and sent into liquidation. Aircel users are facing network issues for the past few weeks in several areas across the country since some of the tower companies have switched off Aircel’s base stations due to pending dues. It had about 80 million subscribers as of January. Aircel already said that it is working to keep its network running and facilitate users who want to port out. Reliance Communications, Aircel merger was called off back ...