Aircel to soon file for bankruptcy at NCLT: Report

New Delhi: Telecom company Aircel will soon file for bankruptcy at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) as per a financial daily report.

A report in the Economic Times said that the board of the telecom company, which has a Rs 15,500 crore debt, has been dissolved ahead of the move. The application to the NCLT will be submitted within a few days, the paper said.

The lenders are scheduled to meet on Tuesday to decide on appointments and the future course of action, ET said.

The decision has been reportedly taken following the Reserve Bank of India scrapping all debt revamp schemes in favour of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

Since Aircel has not made payments since September, banks cannot restructure Aircel.

Two weeks ago Idea Cellular suspended interconnect services with Aircel for non- payment of dues. Idea said it will restore interconnect services immediately after Aircel makes the payment, but did not specify the outstanding amount.

Idea said that despite multiple reminders since November 2017, the operator had failed to meet its payment commitments forcing Idea to suspend interconnect services, as per the terms of interconnect agreement.

Aircel and Reliance Communications had signed binding agreements in September 2016 for the merger of RCom's mobile businesses with Aircel. However they terminated the deal in October last year for the “lapses with mutual consent.”