Apex court puts Bhushan Power and Steel liquidation on hold, clears path for JSW Steel review plea

THEBUSINESSBYTES BUREAU

NEW DELHI, MAY 26, 2025

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered that liquidation proceedings against Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd (BPSL) be frozen, granting much-needed interim relief to JSW Steel and reopening a high-stakes battle that has gripped India’s insolvency landscape. Acting on a plea filed by the Sajjan Jindal-led group, the bench directed the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to maintain status quo until the apex court examines a forthcoming review petition against its own 2 May ruling that had nullified JSW Steel’s ₹19,300-crore resolution plan for BPSL.

JSW Steel now has 30 days to file the review, a window the Court described as essential “in the interest of justice”. Until the review is decided, no step toward liquidating BPSL can proceed—effectively pausing an action sought by the company’s former promoter, Sanjay Singhal, who had moved the NCLT after the 2 May verdict.

That earlier judgment had stunned India’s steel sector. Although JSW Steel had acquired BPSL more than five years ago through the corporate insolvency resolution process, the Court found the plan to be non-compliant with key provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, including failure to adhere strictly to approved timelines. The setback threatened JSW Steel’s painstaking revival of BPSL’s 4.5-million-tonne-per-annum plant in Odisha—a facility now central to the company’s domestic capacity of 34.2 MTPA.

In a statement last week, JSW Steel Joint Managing Director Jayant Acharya insisted the company had fully implemented the resolution plan and “taken steps to successfully revive the company to its present state today”, adding that JSW expected its compensation rights to be upheld. Monday’s order provides the breathing space the steelmaker had been seeking, while throwing the future of one of India’s most closely watched insolvency cases back into uncertainty.