SWC's creditor list is longer as there were many who were watching from thesidelines and did not file a winding-up petition or initiate any proceedingsbefore the court.

Two joint special officers appointed by the court - Mr NC Roychowdhury andMr BL Vyas - will be disbursing the money in two batches on January 31.Outstation creditors will be repaid in the morning and Kolkata-basedcreditors in the afternoon.

In line with the January 10 order of Justice Ronojit Kumar Mitra, paymentswill be made only to those of the listed creditors who are willing to acceptpayment of principal dues and interest of 12 per cent from December 24,1996, to the date of payment.

For the period before December 23, 1996, the interest will be computed atrate that was agreed between borrower (Shaw Wallace) and the lenderconcerned.

The spokesperson for SWC said that the management does not foresee anyshortfall in repaying the creditors since it already has Rs 116 crore in anescrow account.

Justice Mitra had stated that company will have to bridge any shortfallimmediately.

He has asked the joint special officers to record the minutes of the meetingwhere the creditors will be repaid. The officers have also been asked tolist the creditors who either refuse to accept payment or do not turn up atthe meeting. Justice Mitra had noted that, following the repayment to thewilling creditors, the surplus is to be handed over to the court registrar(original side) till further orders. The registrar has been asked to investthe surplus in a short-term deposit with Standard Chartered Grindlays Bank.The Shaw Wallace spokesperson refused to divulge the number of creditors whohave neither filed any winding-up nor initiated any proceedings against thecompany to recover the dues. She pointed out that the total number ofcreditors has come down substantially, but did not specify any figure.

It is understood that around 70-odd creditors have not been covered in thisscheme and will either have to approach the company or seek legal recoursefor recovering the dues. In fact, during the course of argument, an SWCcounsel had suggested that the court should keep aside the money for thosecreditors who are unwilling to receive payments. Justice Mitra felt thissuggestion to be just and fair.

...Q2 profit up 5% to Rs 1 cr
Kolkata, Jan 22: Liquor major Shaw Wallace & Co Ltd reported a 5 per centincrease in its net profit to Rs 1.03 crore for the second quarter toDecember 31, 2000, from Rs 98 lakh in the same period last year.

Sales dipped during the period to Rs 197.71 crore, which is 2.5 per centlower compared to Rs 202.98 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal.According to a note mentioned in the second quarter results, the CalcuttaHigh Court on January 10, 2001, had directed the company to pay 12 per centto its creditors on the principal amount from December 24, 1996, till thedate of repayment. These creditors had either advanced inter-corporatedeposits or provided bill discounting facilities to the company. Failing torecover their dues, these creditors had filed winding up petitions againstthe company.