Ritesh Agarwal, the founder and CEO of OYO on Wednesday denied reports that the hospitality start-up has filed for bankruptcy. The reports followed a petition admitted in NCLT for ₹16 lakh in contractual dispute against one of the subsidiaries of OYO.
Reacting to a series of tweets and a document circulated on social media, Mr Agarwal in a tweet said, “There is a PDF and text message circulating that claims OYO has filed for bankruptcy. This is absolutely untrue and inaccurate. A claimant is seeking INR 16Lakhs (USD 22k) from OYO’s subsidiary leading to a petition at NCLT.”
He added that OYO has paid the amount, which has already been banked by the claimant “under protest”. OYO has challenged the NCLT order against its subsidiary (OHHPL) for the amount of ₹16 lakh.
“OYO is recovering from the pandemic steadily and our largest markets are operating profitably,” Mr Agarwal said.
According to a statement put out on Twitter by Mr. Agarwal, this is not the first time that a petition has been accepted by the NCLT for a new age company. “Flipkart had a similar matter in February 2020 where court for a small operational creditor had allowed NCLT petition but it was promptly set aside by NCLAT,” it said.
An OYO spokesperson added, “We are surprised to hear that the Hon’ble NCLT has admitted a petition against OHHPL, a subsidiary of OYO for ₹16 lakh in a contractual dispute, which dispute is not even with this subsidiary. We have filed an appeal. The matter is sub-judice and we would refrain from commenting further on the merits of the matter at this stage. We have strong faith and belief in our judicial system.”
