A Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Wednesday allowed lenders led by the Bank of India (BoI) to initiate insolvency proceedings against Future Retail Ltd (FRL). The two-judge bench of Justice Pradeep Narhari Deshmukh and Justice Shyam Babu Gautam also appointed Vijay Kumar Iyer as the interim resolution professional.

Admitting BoI’s plea to initiate insolvency resolution proceedings against the Kishore Biyani-led firm, the tribunal also rejected Amazon’s objection to initiating insolvency proceedings against the debt-laden company. Amazon may go in for an appeal at the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) against the order.

It was in April this year that BoI moved the tribunal seeking insolvency resolution proceedings against FRL, which has defaulted on loan repayments. Future Retail owes more than Rs 15,000 crore to its creditors. On May 12, Amazon filed an intervention application under Section 65 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code that deals with provisions relating to penalty for fraudulent or malicious initiation of proceedings. The e-commerce giant had opposed the insolvency plea alleging that BoI had colluded with FRL and that any bankruptcy proceedings at this stage will deny its rights.