The government is debating a significant expansion of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) that might add up to 100 members, one of the largest steps to enhance the NCLT's operation. Even though there are currently 63 members authorised, there are usually vacancies because the government takes a long time to designate new members.
The idea is not just to speed up insolvency resolution, which has slowed down considerably in recent years, but also seek faster disposal of company law matters that are also heard by NCLT benches, a senior official said.
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has been closely monitoring the time being taken and the process and has discussed multiple options with the government and other stakeholders to improve the functioning of NCLT.
According to the most recent data available with IBBI, 67% of cases are continuing past 270 days, and 80% of cases have gone over the 180-day limit for bankruptcy resolution - despite the Bankruptcy & Bankruptcy Code's provision for a 90-day extension. A few months back, IBBI released research that revealed significant delays in the admissions process.
In September 2022, the US had 345 bankruptcy judges, who dealt with over 380,000 cases. In India, between November 2017 and August 2022, over 31,000 IBC cases had been filed with close to 26,000 adjudicated, according to data available on NCLT website.