Modi government finalising response to Supreme Court scrapping JSW Steel-Bhushan deal, official says

"I have already reviewed (the order) with all the lenders. We have taken a position, we have studied the judgement, we have got our advocates' view on the judgment," M Nagaraju of the DFS said.

Mumbai: The Indian government has discussed with banks a court order that scrapped JSW Steel's four-year-old buyout of Bhushan Power and Steel, and is finalising a response, a government official said on Monday.

The Supreme Court, on Friday, nullified JSW's takeover of Bhushan Steel, finalised four years ago under the country's insolvency law, and instead ordered the company's liquidation, affecting the deal's bankers, who had already been paid.

"I have already reviewed (the order) with all the lenders. We have taken a position, we have studied the judgement, we have got our advocates' view on the judgment," said M Nagaraju, the secretary of the Department of Financial Services (DFS) under India's Finance Ministry.

"Now we are taking a view in the government on how do we approach the judgment. We will finalise soon."

Bhushan Power owed over 470 billion rupees ($5.58 billion) to its creditors when it was short-listed by the Reserve Bank of India to be admitted under the country's insolvency and bankruptcy code (IBC) in 2017.

JSW Steel emerged as the successful resolution applicant with a 197 billion-rupee ($2.35 billion) bid for Bhushan Power, with the acquisition completed in 2021.

JSW Steel shares were trading down around 1 per cent on Monday, after falling 5.5 per cent on Friday.

"We will decide on our further course of action," JSW said in a statement to exchanges on Friday.