National E-Governance Services Limited (NeSL) has been registered by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) as an Information Utility (IU) as per the IBBI (Information Utilities) Regulations, 2017. NeSL had received in-principle approval in June this year, which has now been finalised. The registration will remain valid for a period of five years. NeSL is expected to become functional in a year's time. As an IU, NeSL will be the repository of all lending and borrowing transactions of financial institutions in the country and will be accessible to registered users, which will be a big help for the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to make decisions in cases under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. IU stores financial information that helps to establish defaults as well as verify claims expeditiously and thereby facilitates completion of transactions under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 in a time bound manner. It constitutes a key pillar of the insolvency and bankruptcy ecosystem, the other three being the Adjudicating Authority (National Company Law Tribunal and Debt Recovery Tribunal), the IBBI and Insolvency Professionals. NeSL is owned by a group of 17 well-known public institutions, including Life Insurance Corporation of India, State Bank of India, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, ICICI Bank Ltd., Axis Bank Ltd., Karnataka Bank Ltd., HDFC, Indian Bank, Punjab National Bank, New India Assurance Company Ltd., Union Bank of India, Central Depository Services (India) Ltd., Dena Bank, NABARD, United India Insurance, and SIDBI. Once NeSl has set up the IU, users will be able register in…
