Only 1 per cent of eligible companies have opted for or are contemplating the debt restructuring facility offered by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under its Resolution Framework 2.0. As much as 95 per cent of those opting for, or are inclined to seek restructuring, belong to the sub-investment grade rating category. “Put another way, investment-grade rated corporates are showing high resilience,” said a Crisil Rating survey of 4,700 companies. However, most of the micro and small enterprises in India are unrated. The RBI announced the scheme on May 5, 2021, for borrowers, including individuals, small businesses, and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) with aggregate exposure of up to Rs 25 crore provided they had not availed of benefits under any of the earlier restructuring frameworks (including Resolution Framework 1.0 dated August 6, 2020), and were classified as standard accounts as on March 31, 2021. On June 4, 2021, the RBI raised the aggregate debt threshold to Rs 50 crore from Rs 25 crore.
