RBI Clears Decks for Piramal Takeover of DHFL

Piramal Group has received clearances from the Reserve Bank of India to take over Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd. The regulator has cleared the Ajay Piramal-led group under its ‘fit and proper’ framework. It has also given a no-objection certificate for change in ownership of DHFL. The banking regulator, however, has said that the deposit-taking licence held by DHFL will not be transferred to Piramal Group as part of the approval process. DHFL had a deposit-taking licence and has claims worth Rs 5,375 crore from its fixed depositors. The committee of creditors to DHFL will now approach the National Company Law Tribunal to get a final clearance on the resolution plan, before implementing it. The Piramal Group had proposed to pay Rs 37,250 crore to DHFL’s creditors as part of the resolution plan. More than 93% of the stressed housing finance company’s lenders had voted in favour of Piramal Group’s plan on Jan. 15. It had said that some of DHFL’s fixed depositors are likely to face a haircut on their claims, as the committee of creditors had cleared only deposits worth up to Rs 2 lakh to be settled in full. The fixed depositors have approached the NCLT against the proposed distribution scheme, seeking full repayments on their deposits.