A ‘generous’ Rs 20,000 crore write-off...
Call it the public hue and cry over the generous deal offered to Chandra, but the NCLT order has been stayed and will now be heard by a five-member bench of the tribunal. But the question remains: why was the loan write-off approved in the first place?
By NR Mohanty in Delhi
Subhash Chandra, the media baron, was recently at the centre of a controversy over the repayment plan for loans his group companies obtained from financial institutions. Chandra said his personal reputation was being maliciously dragged through the mire over a decision approved by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) that mandated him to pay just Rs 6.5 crore to settle a loan amount of a whopping Rs 22,006.57 crore! Since that decision had been taken after due diligence through a legally enforceable process, why was he blamed as the villain of the piece, he asked.
Call it the public hue and cry over the generous deal offered to Chandra, but the NCLT order has been stayed and will now be heard by a five-member bench of the tribunal. But the chain of events that led to the announcement of the repayment plan is worth pondering.
It was on September 3 last year that a two-member bench gave dissenting judgments in the Chandra case. To resolve matters, a third member from the Mumbai NCLT was added to the tribunal in Delhi a good five months later. He announced his approval of the repayment plan on August 25, 2026, giving it majority approval.
However, in a strange U-turn, perhaps under public pressure, the NCLT announced a stay on the plan's approval and held that a five-member bench would hear the matter again. This decision has put a lid on the controversy, but the question remains: why was the loan write-off approved in the first place?
The fact is, the insolvency resolution process — through the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) enacted by the Narendra Modi government — has been devised in such a way that it would come to the rescue of defaulting business barons who toe the line of the establishment.
It’s no secret that Subhash Chandra, like most business barons in India, is a lackey of the saffron bandwagon. Chandra’s Zee network, like most mainstream TV networks in India, is the megaphone for the ruling BJP in general and Narendra Modi in particular.
Chandra is, in fact, a step ahead of his peers: he has dabbled in politics and won a Rajya Sabha election in 2016 with the support of the BJP MLAs in Haryana. Chandra’s money power could not buy him enough MLAs in Rajasthan in 2022, despite the BJP’s open support for him to win another term in the Upper House; otherwise, he would have continued to be a Member of Parliament today.
It’s hardly surprising that Chandra was the beneficiary of the system crafted by the Modi establishment to take servile businessmen off the hook. But Chandra is not alone; take the case of Anil Ambani, the businessman who is reportedly close to the Modi establishment; his group of companies was let off with a payment plan of just Rs 455 crore to settle a bank loan of over Rs 49,000 crore; in essence, his group was asked to pay less than one per cent of the money he owed the lending institutions.
But Subhash Chandra’s case takes the cake because it involved a haircut of 99.97 per cent; it’s like if you have borrowed Rs 10,000, you need to pay just Rs 3 after years to settle the loan!
How did it pass muster in the legal process? Through sheer manipulation by the clever businessman! Sample the facts of the case: when Chandra stood guarantee for loans to his companies in 2018, he submitted his net worth certificate to the tune of Rs 40,562 crore, on the basis of his personal stake in the group companies. With that kind of personal guarantee of the group head, banks happily lent to his group businesses.
But then the game of diluting Chandra’s personal stake in the group companies began. Apparently, as it has been widely alleged, thousands of crores were reportedly diverted to safe havens abroad and his close relatives at home. In 2026, Chandra’s lawyers presented to the Tribunal that his net worth had come down to just about Rs 31,79 crore, of which his personal bungalow was valued at Rs 25 crore. Chandra could not possibly be displaced from his bungalow; so he was ready to dispense with all his movable assets worth Rs 6.79 crore.
The NCLT accepted the plea that Rs 6.25 crore would be paid to the lenders as repayment of loan and Rs 25 lakh towards the litigation cost while sending out a warning to the lenders that if they didn’t accept the offer and instead pushed for the bankruptcy process, they would end up getting even less of the money they were getting from the reconciliation effort!
Look at the fraudulent process.
How could the net worth of a man, which was Rs 40,562 crore in 2018, come down to Rs 31.79 crore in six years? The lending financial institutions like LIC Housing Finance, HDFC Bank, Canara Bank, et al., demanded a forensic audit of Subhash Chandra’s personal wealth, but the NCLT, as expected of an institution at the government's beck and call, rejected the plea and put the resolution plan to a vote.
How did the suspect plan get through the voting process?
That’s another curious factor; companies floated by the wife of Jawahar Goel, Subhash Chandra’s own brother, were also lenders to Chandra’s businesses. Those companies supported the resolution plan which entailed 99.97% loss of their own money, and that’s how the plan went through.
On the face of it, the companies ostensibly owned by Subhash Chandra’s sister-in-law faced major losses in the resolution plan; but the open secret was that the money remained within the close-knit family — after all, Jawahar Goel’s loss was Subhash Chandra’s gain! For all you know, as speculations are rife, that Chandra had reportedly diverted his personal wealth to his loyal younger brother to create a legal entity that would come to his rescue.
The end result was that, through this process, the brothers’ wealth remained largely untouched, whereas the banks and other major financial institutions which had lent to Chandra’s companies faced a complete washout; sample this, LIC Housing Finance, which had extended a loan of Rs 1,322 crore, was scheduled to get back a pittance of Rs 38 lakh, as per the NCLT’s resolution plan which has now been stayed.
Many independent financial experts have drawn attention to the obvious fraud perpetrated by Subhash Chandra and his family. Take this case: in July 2026, The Economic Times reported that Chandra held a 3.99% stake in Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL), which, at prevailing prices, amounted to roughly Rs 421 crore! This is Chandra’s net worth on the basis of his stake in one of his companies. He heads dozens of such big and small companies. If one calculates Chandra’s cumulative stake in all his companies, his net worth would rise to a few thousand crores!
How could NCLT tamely accept the figure of Rs 31.79 crore as Subhash Chandra’s net worth in August 2026?
Other experts draw attention to the Sunday Guardian report dated August 27, 2026 by Neerja Mishra that threw light on Chandra’s assets: the report says that in August 2026, Chandra’s promoter-group entity Sunbright Mauritius Investments received Rs 20.94 crore fully convertible warrants at Rs 126 each, representing a transaction value of about Rs 2,639 crore, if fully converted. This means, as per this report, that Subhash Chandra’s net worth has been boosted by more than Rs 2,500 crore last month itself, just a few days before the NCLT accepted Chandra’s plea that his net worth was a mere Rs 31.79 crore! How could this happen?
Experts point to another anomaly: if Subhash Chandra had only his bungalow and assets worth just Rs 6.79 crore, how did he pay Rs 660 crore upfront to receive the warrants earlier this month, which made him richer by more than fourfold?
The Sunday Guardian draws our attention to another recent money-making deal by Subhash Chandra. Earlier this year, in June 2026, Chandra sold his Lutyens’ Delhi bungalow on Bhagwan Das Road for Rs 1,260 crore. Where was this money diverted? How come barely two months later, Chandra’s net worth was reduced to just Rs 6.79 crore?
Can you see the extent of manipulation by corporate houses, and how the legally constituted bodies turned a Nelson’s eye to their financial shenanigans? The nexus stands as the latest shining example of crony capitalism promoted by the Modi government.
One hopes the five-member tribunal is fairer this time to banks and lending agencies that lent money to the Subhash Chandra group of companies.
Nalini Ranjan (NR) Mohanty is a seasoned journalist, commentator and academic. He is former Resident Editor, Hindustan Times and The Times of India (Patna Edition) and former Director, Jagran Institute of Management and Mass Communication (JIMMC).