The Subhash Chandra insolvency controversy explained

Zee Group founder Subhash Chandra has been at the centre of a long-running insolvency battle over debts he had personally guaranteed for.

The case began after Indiabulls Housing Finance approached the NCLT in 2022 to initiate insolvency proceedings against Chandra as a personal guarantor. After a Supreme Court stay, the proceedings resumed in 2024, with a Resolution Professional appointed to examine creditors’ claims, Chandra’s finances and his assets. The NCLT’s final order recorded admitted claims of roughly Rs 22,000 crore. Yet the repayment plan approved by the tribunal provided creditors just Rs 6.25 crore. 

The reason?

Chandra’s realisable assets were assessed at around Rs 31.79 crore. But creditors pointed to earlier net-worth certificates showing a net worth of approximately Rs 45,888 crore in 2017 and Rs 40,562 crore in 2018. This raises a much bigger question: what really happened to Chandra’s assets?

The story did not end there. Lenders challenged the approval, and on September 1, a five-member NCLT bench stayed the repayment plan.

We look into the case and the questions it raises. 

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