Events

Speaker:
Ms. Misha, Partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.

Moderator:
Dr. Namita Wahi, Senior Fellow, CPR & Founding Director, Land Rights Initiative

This is the ninth in a series of talks on “Legal History” as part of the Land Rights Initiative Speaker Series. This series is part of the Land Rights Initiative’s 10 year anniversary celebrations.  

This event will be held in hybrid mode at the CPR Conference Room (Dharma Marg, New Delhi) and online over Zoom. Please register below to attend either in person or via Zoom. Refreshments will be served.

About the talk:
In 2016, the NDA government enacted the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (“IBC”)  to consolidate laws related to reorganisation and insolvency resolution in India and to ensure a time-bound resolution of insolvency, with a view to maximising the value of assets of concerned stakeholders, promoting entrepreneurship, ensuring greater availability of credit, and balancing the interests of all stakeholders concerned. The IBC was necessitated by the fact that India’s insolvency framework both pre and post-independence was fragmented across multiple laws, leading to inefficiencies and delays. India’s post-independence insolvency framework comprised of the Companies Act, 1956 which addressed the winding-up of companies, and the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985, which provided a mechanism for the revival and rehabilitation of distressed companies. Personal insolvency, on the other hand, was governed by two colonial statutes: the Presidency Towns Insolvency Act, 1909 (which applied to the erstwhile presidency towns of Kolkata, Mumbai, and Chennai), and the Provincial Insolvency Act, 1920 (which applied to the rest of India). The winding up of limited liability partnerships was regulated by the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008. The presence of multiple, disparate laws for dealing with corporate and personal insolvency meant that creditors had to rely on different legal routes to recover their dues, often targeting the same assets of financially distressed companies. This lack of coordination caused legal disputes, procedural bottlenecks, and a decline in the value of businesses that could otherwise have been revived. The failure of businesses also had detrimental consequences for employees, consumers, and the economy.

According to credit rating agency CRISIL, in the years since its enactment, the IBC has significantly improved India’s credit culture. It has increased recovery rates for creditors and instilled financial discipline among debtors, as they now face the risk of losing control of their businesses. The time-bound resolution process has also made India’s insolvency system more predictable, attracting both domestic and international investors through a transparent bidding process. Moreover, according to data released by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India, more and more companies are being rescued as opposed to being liquidated since the law came into force.

Despite many successes, interpretational challenges and textual ambiguities have resulted in prolonged legal disputes and delays in resolution undermining the law’s objective of providing timely relief. The IBC’s one-size-fits-all approach has also proven inadequate for industries like real estate and aviation, where the sectors’ unique operational challenges require tailored solutions. Another significant challenge concerns the rights of secured creditors. Additionally, even years after its enactment, the IBC still lacks a comprehensive legal framework for handling cross-border insolvency and group insolvency, both of which are crucial in today’s global economy.

In this session, the speaker will evaluate the IBC against its stated policy objectives. In doing so, she will highlight both the improvements that the IBC has brought to India’s insolvency landscape since its enactment, and the gaps and challenges that remain in making the IBC a robust framework for catering to the interests of multiple stakeholders, including the debtor company, various categories of creditors, workers, and consumers.

About the speaker:
Ms. Misha is a Partner in the Dispute Resolution Practice at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. With over nineteen years of experience appearing before the Supreme Court, several High Courts, Arbitral Tribunals and Company Law Tribunals in relation to a wide array of commercial disputes, Ms. Misha has been recognised nationally and internationally as one of the country’s leading bankruptcy and insolvency practitioners. She has been involved in the resolution of ten of the twelve largest non-performing asset accounts referred for insolvency by the Reserve Bank of India.

Ms. Misha has represented the Committee of Creditors in the corporate insolvency process initiated against Essar Steel (India) Limited before the Supreme Court and successfully resolved one of India’s largest non-performing asset accounts. She has also represented the Committee of Creditors of Amtek Auto Limited and other group companies before the Supreme Court in a case involving complex questions of law relating to emerging jurisprudence in respect of the IBC. Additionally, Ms. Misha has represented ICICI Bank Limited before the Supreme Court in the corporate insolvency process initiated against Jaypee Infratech Limited. Furthermore, she has represented the Committee of Creditors in Educomp group companies’ insolvency resolution before the Supreme Court and successfully litigated the issue of whether a resolution plan can be withdrawn after it has been approved by the Committee of Creditors.

Ms. Misha has been recognised for her Restructuring/Insolvency practice by Chambers & Partners Asia Pacific, 2024, and as one of the ‘Top 100 Women in Litigation 2020-2024, Asia Pacific’ by Benchmark Litigation. She was also recognised amongst “40 Under 40 Rising Star” by Legal Era, 2019.

Ms. Misha graduated with B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) degrees from National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, with a gold medal for her academic and extra-curricular achievements. She has been an Advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi since 2005.