Corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP)

The corporate insolvency resolution process, usually shortened to CIRP, is the process the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 sets running when the adjudicating authority admits an application against a corporate debtor. A financial creditor applies under section 7 and an operational creditor under section 9. A resolution professional takes over the management of the debtor, a committee of creditors is formed, and the process ends either in an approved resolution plan or in liquidation.

The clock is in section 12: 180 days, extendable by 90, within an outer limit of 330 days that includes time spent in litigation. Section 12 was not changed by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Act, 2026. What that Act changed, from 26 May 2026, is the entry and the exit: a section 7 application is to be admitted or rejected within fourteen days, withdrawal under section 12A needs a ninety per cent vote of the committee and is barred after the first invitation for resolution plans, and the committee may seek restoration of a CIRP on a sixty-six per cent vote. On the Board's figures as at 30 June 2026, the average time to plan approval was 633 days. The creditor-initiated process in Chapter IV-A was not in force as at 21 September 2026.