The Adani Group, Dalmia Bharat, and Vedanta are said to be among the six companies that have submitted financial bids for Jaiprakash Associates (JAL), which is currently undergoing corporate insolvency proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
The deadline for submission of financial bids, initially set for June 9, was extended to June 24. A total of 25 entities had submitted expressions of interest (EoIs) for JAL’s assets earlier in the process, including Torrent Power, Jindal Power, Oberoi Realty, and Patanjali Ayurveda. According to those in the know, six companies eventually submitted the final proposals by the deadline.
Mails sent to Adani, Dalmia Bharat and Vedanta on the matter were unanswered till press time. JAL’s Committee of Creditors (CoC) was to meet on June 25 to evaluate the bids submitted. The company’s total debt to its financial creditors stands at Rs 57,185 crore.
JAL’s business spans several sectors, including real estate, hospitality and power. It was also at one time a key player in India’s cement manufacturing market with a peak capacity of 30 million tonne per annum. However, over the past decade, it has divested its cement assets through sales to UltraTech Cement, Shree Cement, and Dalmia.
JAL also holds substantial real estate and land assets. These include large-scale township developments such as Jaypee Greens in Greater Noida, Jaypee Greens Wishtown in Noida, and the Jaypee Sports City in Uttar Pradesh. The group also owns land parcels in key urban centres, and five hotel properties across Delhi NCR, Mussoorie, and Agra.
The company’s financial troubles have been mounting for nearly a decade. In 2017, the Reserve Bank of India identified JAL as one of the initial 12 large corporate defaulters to be referred for resolution under the newly enacted IBC framework. However, the resolution was delayed for years due to ongoing legal proceedings and lack of creditor consensus.
The insolvency process gained traction in 2024 after ICICI Bank, one of JAL’s key lenders, filed a fresh petition before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). The bank’s claim stood at over Rs 6,800 crore, but total creditor claims are believed to be significantly higher.
In March this year, a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) transferred their outstanding loans to JAL to National Asset Reconstruction Company Limited (NARCL), according to a regulatory filing by the bankrupt firm. The total bank debt transferred amounted to `55, 493.43 crore.
In April, NARCL submitted a Rs 12,000 crore bid for JAL, offering 15% upfront cash and the rest in government-backed security receipts.
While it was initially the sole financial bid, the proposal was effectively sidelined after the NCLT ruled that bids must be invited for JAL as a whole going concern—not in clusters. NARCL’s offer, which was reportedly structured around specific asset sets, didn’t meet this criterion.
Additionally, the Committee of Creditors opted to wait for broader interest from strategic players, seeking better value through a competitive process before selecting a final resolution plan.