A decade of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code
Marking 10 years of the law that rewrote India's credit culture.
The law that changed who blinks first
When Parliament enacted the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code in May 2016, India's insolvency regime was a maze of overlapping statutes (SICA, winding-up under the Companies Act, DRT proceedings, SARFAESI) in which a defaulting promoter could outlast his creditors for a decade. The Code replaced that maze with a single, time-bound, creditor-in-control process.
Ten years on, the results are visible not merely in courtrooms but on bank balance sheets and in boardroom behaviour. The threat of losing the company, the shift from debtor in possession to creditor in control, has done what decades of recovery litigation could not: it made default expensive for the defaulter. As of March 2026, nearly 9,000 corporate insolvency cases have been admitted under the Code, of which over 7,100 have reached closure, and more than 4,000 companies have been rescued as going concerns through resolution plans, appellate settlements and withdrawals.
Realised by creditors through resolution plans since 2016
Recovery as a share of liquidation value; rescue beats piecemeal sale
Cases settled before admission, involving nearly ₹14 lakh crore
Cases admitted under the Code as of March 2026; 7,102 closed
“The Code has not merely reformed insolvency law; it has produced an institutional transformation with far-reaching consequences for credit markets, corporate behaviour and investor confidence.”
— Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India, on the Code's tenth anniversary, May 2026The turnaround in India's banking system
The Code arrived at the depth of India's bad-loan crisis, when gross NPAs approached 12%. A decade later, that ratio has fallen to nearly 2%, a multi-decadal low.
Source: RBI, Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India; IBBI decadal statement.
“Cleaner bank balance sheets are not an accounting curiosity; they are the precondition for the credit growth that funds investment, employment and GDP.”
Seven amendments, one purpose: a stronger Code
Few Indian statutes have been tended as attentively as the Code. At each turn, when practice exposed a gap, Parliament responded.
Keeping defaulters at the gate: Section 29A
Barred wilful defaulters and errant promoters from buying back their own companies at a discount, protecting the integrity of the resolution process.
Homebuyers at the table, and an exit door
Recognised homebuyers as financial creditors with a seat in the Committee of Creditors, eased voting thresholds, and introduced Section 12A to permit withdrawal on settlement.
Discipline of the clock
Set a 330-day outer limit for resolution including litigation, and affirmed the primacy of the CoC's commercial wisdom in distribution.
Shielding honest business in a crisis
Suspended fresh insolvency filings for COVID-period defaults and raised the default threshold from ₹1 lakh to ₹1 crore, sparing MSMEs a wave of avoidable insolvencies.
A lighter path for MSMEs
Introduced the pre-packaged insolvency resolution process, a faster, hybrid, debtor-in-possession route designed for small enterprise.
The decadal overhaul
Fourteen-day admission timelines, a new creditor-initiated out-of-court resolution process, enabling frameworks for group insolvency and cross-border insolvency, and stronger CoC oversight of liquidation: the most sweeping reform since enactment.
A convening at Chandigarh
Bringing together the community that built this jurisprudence: judges, senior counsel, regulators, resolution professionals, bankers and scholars, for a full-day conference.
24 October 2026
Chandigarh
200+ delegates
Inaugural Session: IBC Turns 10, the decade in retrospect
The ceremonial opening, with the keynote address and reflections from the Bench, the Bar and the regulator on ten years of the Code.
The decade in judgment: how the courts built the Code
From Innoventive and Essar Steel to Swiss Ribbons and beyond: the jurisprudence that gave the statute its spine.
The 2026 Amendment: creditor-initiated resolution, group & cross-border insolvency
A first close reading of the decadal overhaul, with the practitioners who will implement it.
The unfinished agenda: delays, haircuts and institutional capacity
A candid session on what remains: adjudication timelines, valuation, and strengthening the tribunals.
An invitation to lead the conversation
This milestone belongs to those who shaped it. We would be honoured to have you join us as we take stock of ten years of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.
Delegate Registration Form
Limited to 200 delegates • Special subsidized rate available for Students of Law
SUVIR SIDHU · KOMAL ABROL
Society of Indian Lawyers Organizing Committee