Bankrupt RCom arm to build a fintech centre in Navi Mumbai

Mumbai: Bankrupt Reliance Communications on Monday said it will develop a 132-acre land parcel on the outskirts of the city as a fintech centre. The 132-acre land parcel called Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) in the satellite city of Navi Mumbai used to serve as a corporate nerve centre for the company, which filed for insolvency earlier this month.

In the past, chairman Anil Ambani had claimed that the plot had a development potential of Rs 25,000 crore.

In a statement Monday, the company said its wholly-owned subsidiary Reliance Realty will be developing what it claimed as Maharashtra's first 'smart fintech centre'.

It has received the go-ahead from the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation and the Department of Information Technology to develop the land under the state's fintech policy, the statement said.

As per the fintech policy, the plot will have total saleable/leasable area of over 30 million square feet, it said, claiming that the space available is double the size of the Bandra Kurla Complex business district in the island city.

It said there is a "growing demand" from the fintech, banking, financial services, insurance, NBFC, information technology services and knowledge sectors over the next 20 years and "major infrastructure development" has already been initiated in the regard.

Reliance Communications surprised all by moving for filing for insolvency on February 1. Saddled with a debt of over Rs 46,000 crore, bankers were trying to resolve the account under the Strategic Debt Restructuring route earlier, while operational creditors like Ericsson had dragged the company to the National Company Law Tribunal and also to the Supreme Court.

The European company has ensured that Ambani appears in person next week in the apex court for a contempt case filed by it after the group failed to meet the court order of paying back Rs 550 crore to it.

The insolvency petition was filed following its failure to sell assets like spectrum for paying back its lenders, the company had said.

Its 40 lenders, including domestic ones and Chinese banks, have received zero proceeds from the proposed asset monetisation plans, and the overall debt resolution process is yet to make any headway.