Introducing The NeSL Story: A deep-dive into one of India's most consequential debt reforms

On 11 August 2020, the Ministry of Finance issued a circular to MDs and CEOs of all Scheduled Commercial Banks (and SBI) in India requesting them to “complete integration with NeSL’s DDE API urgently.

This is the circular:

This circular seems like a pretty big deal - since ALL Banks in India have to now integrate with a new third party software - the NeSL DDE API.

Naturally, this gives rise to a bunch of critical questions.

What exactly is the NeSL DDE API? What exactly is NeSL?

The best place to start would be the NeSL Website.

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As per this:

1. NeSL is India’s first Information Utility - registered with IBBI under the aegis of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (‘IBC’). 
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2. It has leading banks and public institutions as shareholders - and is incorporated as a Union Govt. Company - basically it is a government entity
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3. It’s primary role is to serve as a repository of legal evidence holding the information pertaining to any debt/claim submitted by the financial or operational creditor and verified and authenticated by the parties to the debt.

So what if NeSL is an Information Utility? So what if it is a neutral, government backed repository of legal evidence?

Why does all this matter?

In this series we’ll be answering this exact question - unpacking the concept of Information Utilities and telling you why they matter.

This will be a 4 part series (for now) that will cover:

• Post 1 - The problem with the conventional insolvency process that gave rise to the need for Information Utilities
• Post 2 - The functions that Information Utilities like NeSL have been setup to perform - and how this helps solve the problem mentioned in Post 1
• Post 3 - The legal framework behind Information Utilities
• Post 4 -  How NeSL DDE API actually works - and how Banks and NBFCs can adopt it fast

Enjoy!