DHFL FD holders plan to vote against resolution on distribution mechanism

By Ankur Mishra

Several fixed deposit (FD) holders of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) are planning to vote against the resolution on the ‘distribution mechanism’ from the prospective recovery amount for the lender. Vinay Kumar Mittal, a lead petitioner in the court on behalf of FD holders, told FE that depositors are going to vote against the resolution as many of them will recover a negligible amount as per proposal. Deposit holders have admitted claims of over Rs 5,500 crore from DHFL.

The resolution on distribution mechanism is open for voting till January 15 and it proposes to categorise FD holders and non-convertible debenture (NCD) holders into four brackets based on their admitted claims. The first bracket will be up to Rs 2 lakh, the second category is between Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. The third category is between Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh and the fourth one is over and above admitted claims of Rs 10 lakh. The resolution proposes to pay full principal amount to first category of FD and NCD holders under Rs 2 lakh bracket.

The resolution says, “The aggregate additional amounts to be distributed to the FD holders in category 1 and secured NCD holders in category 1 shall be paid in full to the extent of principal from upfront cash up to 2% of the resolution plan payment with the intention of providing the maximum principal recovery to the basis amounts available.”

Vinay Kumar Mittal said FD holders, barring those in Rs 2 lakh bracket, are going to lose maximum amount of money as their recovery is not defined in the plan. “Even if, committee of creditors (CoC) approves the resolution due to their large voting share, we will fight the matter in court,” he said. The National Company Law Tribunal is separately hearing FD holders’ petition on DHFL dues. The court is slated to hear the matter next on January 20,2021. “We had invested our hard-earned savings into a AAA rated company regulated by National Housing Bank (NHB) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI), then why should we lose whole amount?” he said.

Along with the resolution on distribution mechanism, the lenders have started voting on the bids submitted by Oaktree Capital, Piramal Capital and Housing Finance (PCHFL) and Adani Properties for DHFL. The troubled lender has admitted claims of Rs 87,407 crore, with State Bank of India being the lead creditor. DHFL is undergoing insolvency proceedings at NCLT, Mumbai since December 3, 2019.