Soon, more colleges will offer postgraduate courses in bankruptcy resolution | Mint

New Delhi: In view of the shortage of qualified professionals to rescue financially distressed companies in India, the Insolvency Board of India has invited top institutes to launch postgraduate courses in insolvency resolution.

According to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI), with a two-year degree, a graduate in select subjects such as accounting, law, finance and economics can become an insolvency resolution professional, without waiting for a decade-long experience.

The bankruptcy rulemaker has invited requests by Sept. 27 from institutions that have a “quality residential facility to accommodate at least 100 students at a time” and a “reasonably large campus with adequate space for expansion” to offer postgraduate programmes.

The institution should have high quality educational infrastructure such as classrooms, library, computer laboratory, research centres, journals, publications and technology, and should have scope for expansion of these facilities.

Currently only two institutes offer Post-Graduate Insolvency Programmes (PGIP): Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs and National Law Institute University, Bhopal. Currently, there are over 4,400 registered insolvency professionals in the country.

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Experts believe the move will increase the workforce available to handle complex tasks of debt resolution and corporate rescue.

Unlike previous initiatives, this time the IBBI has included additional conditions, allowing it to select multiple institutions, modify expressions of interest or reject them without explanation — ensuring that only the best institutions are selected, said Yogendra Aldak, partner, Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan Attorneys.

“With the additional conditions, we may see IBBI selecting more institutes to conduct the PGIP course and this will result in more students becoming insolvency professionals with relevant skills and experience,” Aldak said.

Such insolvency professionals will contribute towards simplifying and expediting insolvency proceedings in India, protecting lenders and reviving companies in time, Eldak said.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs and IBBI are striving to increase the number of insolvency cases resolved in a year, reduce processing time and improve outcome of debt resolution.

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In FY24, a record number of 269 resolution plans were approved by the National Company Law Tribunal as against 189 in the previous year, a 42% improvement in rescuing distressed companies. Mint Reported on June 11.

The IBBI said the insolvency professional plays a central role in the resolution, liquidation and bankruptcy processes of businesses and individuals, acting as the “backbone of the process and the link between the adjudicating authority and the stakeholders”.

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