Practice Group · Insolvency, Restructuring & NCLT
NCLT & Insolvency Lawyers in Ahmedabad: Restructuring and IBC Work for Creditors, Promoters and Investors in Gujarat
The Insolvency, Restructuring & NCLT group of Mahendra Bhavsar & Co., part of the firm’s disputes practice, acts in restructuring and special situations for creditors, promoters, boards, investors, resolution applicants and foreign creditors when a company with a Gujarat connection is in distress.
Key facts
26 May 2026
Most of the IBC (Amendment) Act, 2026 in force
₹1 crore
Minimum default to start insolvency against a company
14 days
Time set for the Tribunal to decide admission, with reasons recorded if it takes longer
NCLT Ahmedabad
Insolvency and company petitions for Gujarat, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu
Mahendra Bhavsar & Co. is a Gujarat-focused law firm, headquartered in Ahmedabad since 1982. Its insolvency work runs from advice before default, standstills and negotiated restructuring, through petitions under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and their defence before NCLT Ahmedabad, claims, resolution plans and distressed acquisitions, to company-law petitions, appeals to the NCLAT and the Supreme Court of India, and cross-border insolvency coordination.
The group works with the firm’s corporate, banking and real estate lawyers, because distress in Gujarat usually turns on security, land and control.
Who Instructs the Firm in Distress
Insolvency changes the rules of a dispute overnight. Once a company is admitted, a moratorium stops most actions against it, control passes to an insolvency professional, and a claim not filed on time can be lost. Mahendra Bhavsar & Co. acts for each side of that change.
Creditors
Lenders, suppliers, contractors, and decree and award holders: insolvency petitions as financial or operational creditors, claims in a resolution process, the committee of creditors, and claims against guarantors.
Promoters and boards
A company facing a petition or heading into distress: defending petitions, disputing debts, settlement and withdrawal, and directors’ exposure.
Investors and resolution applicants
Buying a distressed business or its assets in Gujarat: diligence on land, leases and approvals, resolution plans and their approval, and distressed acquisitions outside the Code.
Foreign creditors and their counsel
An Indian counterparty in distress: claims and representation in Indian insolvency, and the choice between insolvency and the enforcement of a foreign award or judgment.
Guarantors and directors
Personal and corporate guarantors facing claims, and directors and promoters facing exposure when a company fails.
Landowners, lessors and counterparties
Property, leases and contracts held by a company in insolvency or liquidation, and the claims that follow.
What the Insolvency Group Handles
The group handles distress across its whole course: before default, inside a formal process, and after a plan or liquidation order. The areas below are examples, not a closed list.
Advice before default and negotiated restructuring. Standstills, amendments, refinancing, intercreditor arrangements and settlements outside the Code, for lenders, borrowers and promoters. Where security and lender consents are at the centre, the group works with the firm’s banking and finance lawyers.
Insolvency petitions and their defence. Applications by financial creditors, operational creditors and companies themselves, and their defence, including demand notices and replies, pre-existing disputes, the existence and date of default, limitation, and settlement and withdrawal.
Claims, the moratorium and the committee of creditors. Filing and proving claims, their admission or rejection, and how the moratorium affects pending suits, arbitrations, execution and the termination of leases and licences. In Gujarat that includes industrial land: the High Court of Gujarat has held that the moratorium barred GIDC from terminating the lease of a company in insolvency and evicting it.
Resolution plans and distressed acquisitions. For resolution applicants and investors: diligence on the assets, including land, GIDC plots and approvals, the feasibility of a plan that depends on an authority’s land or consent, and objections to and appeals against plans. The transaction side runs with the firm’s corporate lawyers.
Guarantors and security. Claims against corporate and personal guarantors, how registered security stands in a resolution process or liquidation, and the order of payment. The 2026 amendments changed the moratorium provision on sureties, and the firm advises on its effect case by case.
Avoidance transactions and directors’ exposure. Applications over preferential, undervalued, fraudulent and extortionate transactions, and the exposure of directors and promoters when a company fails.
Liquidation. Claims and proceedings in company liquidation, including property and leasehold land held by a company in liquidation, and older winding-up matters still before the High Court of Gujarat and the Official Liquidator.
Company petitions before NCLT Ahmedabad. Oppression and mismanagement petitions and other company petitions, for shareholders, promoters and companies, with appeals to the NCLAT, together with the firm’s corporate practice.
Cross-border insolvency coordination. The Indian side of insolvency proceedings abroad that affect an Indian party or Indian assets, and the position of foreign creditors in Indian processes, working with counsel in the other country.
Appeals. Appeals to the NCLAT, and to the Supreme Court of India, from orders on admission, claims, plans and liquidation, with the firm’s litigation and arbitration lawyers.
Experience in Restructuring and Special Situations
Mahendra Bhavsar & Co.’s work in this area includes:
- working with US counsel to oppose Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings in the United States, with the firm conducting the Indian side;
- acting for overseas equipment suppliers against Indian buyers, including a statutory demand and winding-up petitions in the High Court of Gujarat;
- advising on the response to a corporate dispute notice, coordinated with counsel in related appeals before the NCLAT, on liability, limitation, maintainability and jurisdiction.
That work uses insolvency procedure as a creditor’s tool, and runs the Indian side of a matter in step with proceedings and counsel abroad. With the firm’s title and security work on Gujarat land, it supports foreign creditors and investors in Gujarat insolvency and restructuring, lenders and suppliers deciding between insolvency and enforcement, and acquisitions of Gujarat assets in special situations.
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code After the 2026 Amendments
- Commencement. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Act, 2026 (Act 6 of 2026) received assent on 6 April 2026. Most of it came into force on 26 May 2026.
- Not yet in force. The creditor-initiated insolvency resolution process, group insolvency and the power to make rules for cross-border insolvency.
- Admission. The Tribunal is to decide an application within fourteen days, and must record its reasons in writing if it takes longer. That duty now extends to operational creditors’ and companies’ own applications.
- Withdrawal. An admitted process can be withdrawn only with the approval of ninety per cent of the voting share of the committee of creditors, within the window the Code sets.
- Fast-track process. The fast-track insolvency resolution process has been removed from the Code.
- Liquidation. The committee of creditors now supervises the conduct of liquidation by the liquidator.
- Frivolous proceedings. A penalty of not less than ₹1 lakh and up to ₹2 crore applies to frivolous or vexatious applications.
- Threshold. The minimum default to start insolvency against a company remains ₹1 crore.
The firm checks which provisions apply on the date a petition is filed or a plan is considered. Position as at 6 November 2026.
Working with Other Practices and Advisers
Distress rarely stays in one area of law. The group draws on the firm’s banking lawyers for security and lender consents, its corporate lawyers for distressed acquisitions and company-law steps, its real estate lawyers for land, leases and GIDC plots, and its disputes lawyers for enforcement and appeals. Where a matter needs insolvency professionals, valuers or finance co-counsel, the firm coordinates their input with its own.
Mahendra Bhavsar & Co. works with a network of affiliated firms of chartered accountants and company secretaries, and with established advocates across Gujarat. The firm’s senior lawyers lead its work: a matter begins with an understanding of the client’s objective and the issues in play, and the firm looks at it as a whole, so each step is taken with the next one in mind.
Related Insights from the Firm
Notes by the firm on insolvency and the IBC.
What You Will Usually Need to Provide
- the loan, supply or other contract, and any guarantee or security documents;
- statements of account and the record of default, including invoices, demands and acknowledgments;
- any demand notice, petition, public announcement or order already issued, with dates;
- recent financial statements and charge filings of the company concerned, if available;
- for land or plots: the title documents, lease deed, 7/12 extract or GIDC allotment papers;
- the names of the company, its promoters and the main creditors, so the firm can check for conflicts of interest.
Please do not send confidential papers until the firm confirms it can act.
Questions on Insolvency and the NCLT
Position as at 6 November 2026.
What does an NCLT lawyer do?
An NCLT lawyer acts in proceedings before the National Company Law Tribunal: insolvency petitions under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, claims and resolution plans, oppression and mismanagement petitions and other company petitions, and appeals to the NCLAT. In Gujarat the work also turns on the land and security questions behind most distressed companies.
Who can appear before the NCLT?
A party can appear in person or be represented. Advocates appear before the NCLT, and the Companies Act, 2013 also allows chartered accountants, company secretaries and cost accountants to represent parties. Contested matters are usually conducted by advocates.
Which tribunal hears the insolvency of a company in Gujarat?
The National Company Law Tribunal, Ahmedabad Bench, whose territorial jurisdiction covers the State of Gujarat and the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. Appeals go to the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, and from there to the Supreme Court of India.
What is the minimum default to start insolvency against a company?
₹1 crore, as notified by the Central Government in March 2020; the 2026 amendments did not change it. Smaller claims go to the civil courts, the commercial courts or arbitration.
Does the moratorium stop suits and arbitrations against the company?
Generally, yes. Once a company is admitted into insolvency, suits, arbitrations and execution against it, and steps by an owner or lessor to recover property it occupies, are barred while the process lasts. How the moratorium affects guarantors changed with the 2026 amendments, so that point is checked on the facts.
Can a resolution plan extinguish a creditor’s claim?
Yes. An approved resolution plan binds all creditors, and claims not included in it are generally extinguished. That is why claims must be filed in time and the plan read closely.
Should a creditor file for insolvency, sue or arbitrate?
It depends on whether the debt is genuinely disputed, its size, the security held and what the creditor wants: payment, control or a sale. An operational creditor’s petition fails where there is a plausible pre-existing dispute, so the route is chosen before any notice is sent.
Can an insolvency process be withdrawn after admission?
Yes, in limited circumstances. After the 2026 amendments, withdrawal needs the approval of ninety per cent of the voting share of the committee of creditors, within the window the Code sets.
Discuss an insolvency or restructuring matter with the firm
Tell the firm about the company, the nature and size of the exposure, any security or guarantees, and any notice, petition or order already served.