Seismic contractor Devi saved from insolvency
Hyderabad-based seismic contractor Devi Engineering has reached an out-of-court settlement with Kakinada-based subcontractor Sidhvi Infrastructure Projects, resolving a commercial dispute that resulted in insolvency proceedings against Devi.
A payment-related disagreement between the two companies resulted in the National Company Law Tribunal's (NCLT's) Amaravati bench admitting Devi into the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) through a July 7 (2025) order. "But the CIRP has since been withdrawn," says a source close to the matter.
"Our financiers (banks) have agreed to finance a settlement of the case; there was no case actually; we hired a contractor (Geetanjali Constructions) and the company subcontracted work to Sidhvi." He stresses that Devi made all payments to Geetanjali.
"But they did not pass on the payment to Sidhvi because of which this case arose," he claims. "We have submitted all relevant documents to the court, which has accepted them."
The root of the dispute lies in a Rs2.13cr ($244,660) claim made by Sidhvi for the supply of stone aggregates, a key construction material, delivered to Devi in 2020. However, Devi maintains that it had no direct contractual relationship with Sidhvi.
The NCLT's order on July 7 (2025) says: "The Corporate Debtor (Devi) categorically denies having issued the alleged purchase order dated December 12 (2018) and asserts that no goods were ever supplied by the Operational Creditor (Sidhvi); Devi had awarded a work order to Geetanjali Constructions, who was executing the project; at the request of Geetanjali, two payments totalling Rs50 lakhs ($57,500) were made directly to Sidhvi on Geetanjali's behalf; these payments were not for any direct supply or obligation between Devi and Sidhvi." Our source adds that Devi filed multiple cases and police complaints against Geetanjali.
Meanwhile, Sidhvi filed a petition under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016 in 2023, alleging default in payment. On July 7 (2025), the NCLT appointed Malireddy Ramana Reddy as the Interim Resolution Professional (IRP).
Two weeks later, on July 23 (2025), the IRP applied to the NCLT to withdraw the insolvency proceedings in light of the full and final settlement. A bench comprising member technical Umesh Kumar Shukla and member judicial Kishore Vemulapalli heard the application.