Oyo's Creditors Assert INR 160Cr In Dues; Claims To Be Verified

Things seem to be going against Ritesh Agarwal-led Oyo, which last week was dragged to the National Company Law Tribunal by one of its creditors for allegedly not paying INR 16 lakh. According to a recent report by Entrackr, Oyo's subsidiary Oyo Hotels and Homes Private Limited (OHHPL) which was facing an insolvency plea now seem to have seen claims worth INR 160 crore by several creditors. However, these claims are yet to be verified.

On March 30, 2021, an Ahmedabad bench of NCLT admitted the insolvency plea of OHHPL defaulting INR 16 lakh to its Gurugram-based creditor - Rakesh Yadav. The tribunal has asked all creditors of OHHPL to submit their claim to the resolution professional by April 15, 2021.

However, OYO in an official statement said the amount in question has already been paid by the company and it appealed against the proceeding. Following this, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal stayed the formation of CoC. However, people were still allowed to submit their claims.

According to the web portal, on April 16 during a hearing at the NCLAT, the interim resolution professional (IRP) in the case informed the court that he had received claims worth INR 160 crore against Oyo's Ahmedabad subsidiary.

Oyo in a blog post said these claims received by the IRP as part of the standard process but aren't reviewed, assessed, contested or confirmed, or even adjudicated (as some of these may pertain to ongoing disputes) yet. "These claims are arbitrary and are aspirational demands, many of which are currently under dispute and without basis," the statement read.

In 2019, OYO's total properties grew over 43,000 hotels and offered customers access to over 50,000 vacation homes. The company has also made its foothold strong in South America.

The SoftBank-backed hospitality chain is not a profitable startup and made a loss of $335 million in FY19.