E-commerce delivery platform Dunzo faces another insolvency case as creditor files IBC application

Another creditor of e-commerce delivery company Dunzo has filed a petition seeking initiation of bankruptcy proceedings against the company under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

This time, it’s Invoice Discounters, which provided services such as asset management, staffing, background checks, and merchandise, according to a platform subscription agreement and master services agreement with Dunzo. The creditor claims Dunzo failed to pay them in full for those services, leading to the bankruptcy filing.

This comes after Betterplace, another operational creditor of Dunzo, filed a case against Dunzo in February. In May 2024, the NCLT granted Dunzo a two-week extension to settle its outstanding dues from Betterplace Safety Solutions.

Earlier, Velvin Group, another operational creditor of Dunzo, had filed a bankruptcy petition against them and its petition was allowed by the NCLT court in Bengaluru.

The Invoice Discounters case was filed before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), citing that Dunzo had only partially repaid its dues. The exact amount due remains unclear.

Dunzo is currently negotiating a settlement, according to Livemint. The company’s legal counsel has asked for two weeks, stating that “the parties are indeed exploring settlement talks and are closing in on finalizing the details of the settlement.”

If those talks fail, Dunzo plans to file a formal response.

However, the creditor’s lawyer argued that Dunzo had paid only half the amount due. An NCLT bench headed by Justices K. Biswal and Manoj Kumar Dubey gave both the parties two days to file a joint statement on the settlement proposal.

If that fails, the case will be retried on August 6.

Dunzo operates delivery services in eight cities in India — Bengaluru, Delhi, Gurugram, Pune, Chennai, Jaipur, Mumbai and Hyderabad — but it also faces its own challenges.

Key investor LightBox has resigned from its board seat. LightBox has the largest stake in the company after Reliance, which has an 11.1% stake. Last year, Lightrock and Reliance Retail resigned from the board between August and October.

Dunzo co-founders Dalvir Suri and Mukund Jha have also left the company and resigned from their board positions, sources said.