The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has declared Venugopal Dhoot, former promoter and director of Videocon Industries Ltd, bankrupt on a petition filed by the State Bank of India (SBI), which is seeking Rs 12,668 crore from him as a personal guarantor for loans taken by the company.
A two-member bench admitted SBI's petition in an order passed on November 5. The bench appointed insolvency professional Asish Narayan, who had earlier overseen Dhoot's personal insolvency resolution process, as the bankruptcy trustee. With the order, Dhoot's estate will be administered by the trustee for the benefit of his creditors.
SBI's claim of Rs 12,668.06 crore as of September 30, 2026, including interest and penalties, arises from three guarantees Dhoot had furnished for Videocon Industries' borrowings. These include Rs 9,322.11 crore under a 2012 term loan agreement through which Videocon Industries borrowed Rs 2,972 crore from SBI and five erstwhile associate banks; Rs 1,437.76 crore under a 2010 facility originally extended to Videocon Telecommunications Ltd, which Videocon Industries took over as a co-obligor in 2016; and Rs 1,908.19 crore under the group's working capital consortium arrangements.
The associate banks — State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, and State Bank of Patiala — merged with SBI from April 1, 2017, and their loans are deemed to have been granted by SBI.
The bankruptcy order follows the failure of Dhoot's personal insolvency resolution process (PIRP), which the tribunal initiated on April 8, 2026, on an SBI application under Section 95 filed in 2020. Dhoot had earlier proposed repay Rs 600 crore over 36 months. However, the creditors found the repayment plan unviable, and hence they decided to initiate bankruptcy proceedings.
On July 17, the tribunal rejected the repayment plan under Section 114, terminated the insolvency process and permitted creditors to initiate bankruptcy proceedings. SBI filed its bankruptcy petition on September 24, within the three-month window prescribed under Section 121(2), the bench noted.
Videocon Industries was admitted to corporate insolvency proceedings on June 6, 2018, following an SBI petition. Its insolvency process was consolidated with those of 12 other Videocon group companies in August 2019. The tribunal approved Twin Star Technologies' resolution plan on June 8, 2021. According to the order, Dhoot's appeal against the approval of the resolution plan was dismissed by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal on January 5, 2022.
