On August 3, in an open letter issued by the Essel Group Chairman, Subhash Chandra said that he had settled 91 per cent of the debt to over 43 lenders and the other remaining dues were in the process of being paid.
Mr Chandra said that they have had come out of a financial stress situation by settling 91.2 per cent of their total debt to 43 lenders in 110 accounts, the 88.3 per cent of the amount had been already paid and 2.9 per cent was in the process of being paid.
He also mentioned that they were making required efforts to settle the remaining 8.8 per cent of their debt and they had no regret for parting with substantial ownership in the business and especially in the jewels of the crown and it had been done to keep the family’s honour.
Mr Chandra had repeated to say in the second open letter that the group had exited or sold the businesses of infrastructure, print media, financial services and others.
Mr Chandra said that their Group companies Zee Ltd., Zee Media Corporation Ltd., which were had been going through a difficult phase of their existence due to the lack of capital.
Mr Chandra in the open letter also apologised to his brother, Jawahar Goel, whose company, Dish TV India Ltd, was suffering and had been losing their base due to him which was not because of his brother Jawahar’s fault.
He said that referring to the letter he would like to publicly apologise to him and his family, he would like to settle the dues before the end of the 2021 fiscal year.
Mr Chandra had written this second open letter, where he had apologised for the hardships faced by the lenders due to the liquidity crisis triggered by the IL&FS case and were committed to repaying the monies to the best of his abilities.
Mr Chandra in his recent letter had said that the COVID-19 pandemic had caused an extension of the painful period which was beyond his targeted resolution time of 18 months to 30 months as of now and beyond. He also dropped a hint of a new business venture along with the debt resolution in the letter.
He also added that he has earned a fair experience in the video business, which is why he was exploring new business opportunities in the video in digital space and Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in video space, without getting into conflicts with ZEEL of any manner.
