In short. File your claim with the interim resolution professional or resolution professional named in the Form A public announcement, using Form B for operational creditors, Form C for financial creditors, Form CA for homebuyers and similar classes, Form D for workmen and employees, and Form F for others. Attach proof of the debt and calculate it up to the insolvency commencement date. File by the date in the announcement.
Once the NCLT admits a company into the corporate insolvency resolution process, your suit, your arbitration and your recovery efforts against the company stop, as our post on what the section 14 moratorium stops and what continues explains. From that date, the claim you file with the resolution professional is the only way you will be paid by the company, whether under a resolution plan or in liquidation. A creditor with a strong case and no claim on file gets nothing.
Filing a claim is not complicated, but it is unforgiving. The forms are short, the deadline is short, and the resolution professional has seven days to verify everything that came in. This post walks through the process as it actually happens, from the newspaper announcement to the list of creditors, for suppliers, lenders, homebuyers, employees and government departments. For our wider work for creditors and companies under the Code, see our page on bankruptcy and insolvency advice.
- Law
- Section 15 and 18 IBC; regulations 6 to 14 of the IBBI CIRP Regulations 2016
- Deadline in the announcement
- 14 days from the appointment of the interim resolution professional
- Late claims
- Up to the 90th day or the request for resolution plans, whichever is later
- Amount
- Calculated as on the insolvency commencement date
- Verification
- Within 7 days of the last date for receiving claims
- Challenge to rejection
- Application to the NCLT under section 60(5)
How do I file a claim in a company's insolvency?
You fill in the claim form for your category of creditor, attach documents that prove the debt, sign it, and send it to the interim resolution professional (IRP) at the address or email given in the public announcement. That is the whole of it. There is no court fee, no affidavit before a notary in most cases, and no hearing. The IRP, and later the resolution professional (RP) appointed by the committee of creditors, verifies the claim and decides how much to admit.
The claim is the foundation of everything that follows. It decides if you are counted as a financial creditor with a vote in the committee of creditors, or an operational creditor without one. It decides the amount on which you will be paid under a resolution plan. It is also the record the RP uses to prepare the information memorandum that prospective buyers of the company read. A claim admitted at the wrong amount, or in the wrong category, affects your recovery as much as a claim not filed at all.
Financial creditors file electronically. Operational creditors, workmen and other creditors can file in person, by post or by electronic means, and in practice almost everyone emails a signed scan to the address in the announcement and keeps the sent email as proof of the date. If you send it by post, use a method that gives you a delivery record.
Which claim form do I use?
The CIRP Regulations prescribe a different form for each category of creditor. Using the wrong one is not fatal, but it slows verification and invites arguments about your status.
| Form | Who uses it | Typical creditors |
|---|---|---|
| Form B | Operational creditors, other than workmen and employees | Suppliers of goods or services, contractors, landlords for arrears, government departments for statutory dues |
| Form C | Financial creditors, other than those in a class | Banks, NBFCs, lenders under inter-corporate deposits, debenture holders through their trustee, beneficiaries of a corporate guarantee |
| Form CA | Financial creditors belonging to a class | Homebuyers (allottees in a real estate project), deposit holders, and similar groups |
| Form D | Workmen and employees | Individual employees claiming unpaid salary, wages, bonus or other dues |
| Form E | Authorised representative of workmen and employees | A union or representative filing for a group of workers |
| Form F | Creditors other than financial and operational creditors | Claimants whose debt does not fit either category, such as some claims for damages |
The forms are in the schedule to the CIRP Regulations, and most resolution professionals attach editable copies to the public announcement or put them on the company's or their own website. Use the current version; the IBBI amends the forms from time to time.
What is the last date to file a claim with the resolution professional?
The last date is the one printed in the public announcement, which is fixed at 14 days from the IRP's appointment. The announcement is published within three days of the appointment, so in real terms you often have about eleven days from the day it appears in the newspaper. Treat that date as your deadline and file within it.
If you miss it, you still have a window. Since an amendment of September 2023, regulation 12 of the CIRP Regulations allows a creditor who failed to file within the announced time to file up to the date the RP issues the request for resolution plans, or the 90th day from the insolvency commencement date, whichever is later. Within that window, the RP should accept and verify your claim. Check the current text of regulation 12 when you are relying on it, because the IBBI has changed this provision more than once.
After that window closes, the RP will usually decline to verify the claim and tell you to apply to the NCLT. The NCLT has, in a number of cases, directed RPs to consider delayed claims where the delay was explained and the plan had not yet been approved. But the tribunal is cautious about reopening a process that is underway, and the later you come, the weaker your position. Once the NCLT approves a resolution plan, claims that are not part of it are extinguished. The Supreme Court held this in Ghanashyam Mishra and Sons v Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company (2021), and the 2026 amendment has written it into section 31 of the Code.
Where do I find the public announcement, and what does it tell me?
The IRP publishes the public announcement in Form A in at least one English and one regional language newspaper circulating where the company's registered office and principal place of business are, and on the IBBI's website and the company's website if it has one. If you are a known creditor, the IRP may also email you, but there is no guarantee of individual notice. Creditors who wait to be told are the ones who miss the date.
The announcement tells you the name of the company, the insolvency commencement date, the name, registration number and contact details of the IRP, the last date for claims, and where to find the forms. If the company has classes of creditors, such as homebuyers, it names three insolvency professionals from whom each class chooses its authorised representative. Note all of this down, and save a copy of the newspaper page.
The quickest way to keep track is to check the NCLT cause lists and the IBBI's public announcements page if you know a debtor company is under financial stress, or to set a reminder to search the company's name every few weeks. Suppliers who are owed money by a company that has already received a section 8 demand notice or a section 7 petition should assume that admission may come at any hearing.
Documents to attach to your claim
The regulations let you prove a claim either through records with an information utility or through other relevant documents. In practice, attach both where you have them. The resolution professional can ask for more, but a well-supported first filing avoids that round.
Financial creditors (Form C)
- Loan agreement or facility agreement and sanction letter
- Record of disbursement: bank statements or disbursement advices
- Statement of account showing the outstanding as on the commencement date
- Security documents: mortgage, hypothecation, pledge, guarantee
- Record of default from an information utility, if any
- Any DRT, court or arbitral order on the debt
- Board resolution or authority letter for the signatory
Operational creditors (Form B)
- Contract, purchase orders or work orders
- Invoices and delivery challans or e-way bills
- Ledger account of the company in your books
- GST returns showing the invoices, where relevant
- Correspondence acknowledging the debt or the supply
- Any decree, award or order on the debt
- Calculation of interest, only if the contract provides for it
Homebuyers (Form CA)
- Allotment letter and builder buyer agreement
- Receipts and bank statements for every payment
- Demand letters from the builder
- Any RERA or consumer commission order
- Choice of authorised representative from the three named in the announcement
Workmen and employees (Form D)
- Appointment letter or other proof of employment
- Salary slips and bank statements showing the last salary received
- Calculation of unpaid salary, bonus and other dues up to the commencement date
- Identity proof
How much can I claim? Principal, interest and the commencement date
Every claim is calculated as on the insolvency commencement date, the date of the NCLT's admission order. You claim the principal outstanding on that date, plus interest that had accrued up to that date where you are entitled to interest. Interest after the commencement date is not part of the claim. A creditor who files a claim with interest running to the date of filing will find the RP cutting it back, and the reduction is correct.
Interest needs a basis. A financial creditor has the loan agreement. An operational creditor can claim interest only if the contract, the invoices accepted by the company or a statute provides for it. The MSMED Act 2006 gives registered micro and small suppliers a statutory right to compound interest at three times the RBI bank rate on delayed payments, and that can be claimed if you were registered at the time of supply. Penal interest and charges are often disputed, and RPs regularly admit the principal and part of the interest while rejecting the rest. Show your working in a separate sheet.
A few other points come up often. A claim in foreign currency is converted into rupees at the official exchange rate on the commencement date. GST charged on an invoice is part of the debt if the invoice was raised and not paid. Security deposits held by the company, advances paid to it and amounts the company owes you in another capacity are all claimable, but if you also owe the company money, expect the RP to set off mutual dues and admit only the balance. When Advocate B.K. Singh reviews a supplier's claim before filing, the line he spends most time on is interest, because it is where claims are most often overstated and then cut, and an overstated claim invites a closer look at everything else.
What if the debt is disputed, pending in court or not yet due?
File the claim anyway. A debt that is the subject of a pending suit or arbitration is still a claim, and the definition of claim in section 3(6) of the Code covers a right to payment whether or not it is reduced to judgment, disputed or undisputed, secured or unsecured. Your pending case is frozen by the moratorium; the claim is how the debt enters the process.
For claims that cannot be fixed precisely, regulation 14 tells the RP to make the best estimate on the information available and to revise it when more information comes in. This covers contingent claims, such as a bank guarantee that has not yet been invoked, a corporate guarantee given by the company for another borrower's loan, or damages claimed in a pending arbitration. Give the RP the basis for your figure and the documents, and ask for the claim to be admitted at least at an estimated amount rather than rejected as contingent.
If the company disputes the debt, the RP still has to verify it on the material available. The RP is not a court and cannot try a contested damages claim, but it also cannot reject a claim simply because the company's former management says it is not payable. In practice, well-documented supply claims are admitted even where the promoters dispute quality, while unliquidated damages claims are often admitted at a nominal or estimated figure and then argued over before the NCLT.
Financial or operational creditor: why the category matters
The category you claim in decides your voice in the process. Financial creditors, those whose debt was disbursed against the time value of money, form the committee of creditors and vote on every major decision, including the resolution plan, in proportion to their admitted claims. Operational creditors, those owed for goods, services, employment or statutory dues, do not vote. Operational creditors whose aggregate dues are at least 10% of the total debt can send a representative to attend committee meetings, without a vote.
The category also affects what you are paid. A resolution plan must pay operational creditors at least what they would receive in liquidation, and the committee decides the rest in its commercial judgment, which the NCLT rarely interferes with. In many plans, operational creditors receive a small percentage of their claim. That is why suppliers sometimes argue that an advance-like arrangement was really a loan, and lenders sometimes find that an inter-corporate deposit is challenged as operational. Make your case on category in the claim itself, with documents, rather than leaving it for later.
Related parties are a special case. A financial creditor that is a related party of the company has its claim admitted but, under section 21(2), cannot sit or vote in the committee. If you are a group company or a promoter who lent money to the company, expect your claim to be examined closely, including under the avoidance provisions discussed in our post on preferential and fraudulent transactions in insolvency.
Filing the claim, step by step
Find the announcement and note the dates
Get the Form A public announcement and the NCLT admission order. Note the insolvency commencement date, the last date for claims and the IRP's email.
Choose the right form
Decide your category: financial, operational, a class such as homebuyers, workman or employee, or other. Download the current form for that category.
Calculate the claim as on the commencement date
Work out principal and interest up to the commencement date only. Prepare a separate calculation sheet showing rates, periods and the contractual or statutory basis.
Assemble the proof
Collect the agreement, invoices, ledger, bank statements and any order or award. Number the documents and list them in the form, so that the RP can match each figure to a document.
Sign and authorise
Have the form signed by the creditor or an authorised signatory, with a board resolution or authority letter for a company. Fill in your bank details and the declaration correctly.
Send and keep proof
Email the signed form and documents to the address in the announcement, or deliver it in the manner the announcement allows. Keep the sent email, delivery record or acknowledgement.
Follow up on verification
After the verification period, check the list of creditors on the RP's or company's website. If the RP asks for more documents, reply within the time given, in writing.
How does the resolution professional verify claims?
Under regulation 13, the IRP or RP verifies every claim, as on the insolvency commencement date, within seven days from the last date for receiving claims. The 2026 amendment to section 18 makes it explicit that the IRP's job is to collate, verify and determine the value of claims, not merely to collect them. The professional checks the claim against your documents and against the company's own books, and may call for further evidence or clarification under regulation 10.
The result is the list of creditors: each creditor's name, the amount claimed, the amount admitted and any security interest. The list is displayed on the company's website if it has one, filed with the NCLT and presented at the first meeting of the committee of creditors, and it is updated as claims are revised. If your claim is admitted at a lower figure, or rejected, the RP should tell you the reasons. If it does not, ask in writing.
Claims are not frozen once admitted. Regulation 14 lets the RP revise an admitted amount when new information comes to light, and creditors are required to update their claims when they are paid, in whole or part, from any other source after the commencement date. That last rule matters for a creditor who recovers from a guarantor during the CIRP: the claim against the company must be reduced accordingly, so that the creditor does not recover twice.
A made-up example: a supplier's claim, admitted in part
Here's a made-up example. Kaveri Packaging, a registered small enterprise in Ghaziabad, supplied cartons to Meridian Foods Pvt Ltd for two years. Meridian stopped paying in January. In June, a bank's section 7 petition against Meridian is admitted by an NCLT bench in New Delhi, and the IRP's announcement appears in two newspapers four days later, giving ten days for claims. Kaveri's accountant spots it on the IBBI website the next morning.
Kaveri files Form B by email within the deadline, claiming ₹42.6 lakh: ₹34.1 lakh in unpaid invoices and ₹8.5 lakh in interest. It attaches the purchase orders, 61 invoices, e-way bills, its ledger, GST returns, Meridian's emailed acknowledgement of the balance in March, its Udyam registration certificate and a calculation sheet applying compound interest under the MSMED Act, but running to the date of filing rather than the admission date.
The RP admits the invoices in full and recalculates interest up to the commencement date, admitting ₹7.9 lakh. It rejects ₹1.2 lakh for invoices that Meridian's books show as returned goods, and asks for proof of delivery. Kaveri sends signed delivery challans for most of those invoices within a week, and the RP revises the admitted amount upwards. Kaveri ends up with an admitted claim of about ₹41.7 lakh, recorded correctly in the list of creditors before the information memorandum is circulated.
My claim was rejected or reduced: what can I do?
First, ask the RP for reasons in writing, and answer them with documents. Many reductions are reversed at this stage, because the RP was working only from the company's books and did not have your delivery records, acknowledgements or calculation. A short, specific letter that matches each disputed figure to a document works better than a general protest.
If the RP does not change its decision, the remedy is an application to the NCLT under section 60(5), which lets the tribunal decide any claim or question of law or fact arising in the insolvency. File it promptly. The tribunal is far more willing to direct re-verification while the CIRP is at the claims and information memorandum stage than after the committee has voted on a plan. Applications filed after plan approval face the extinguishment rule and rarely succeed.
When Advocate B.K. Singh is asked whether to challenge a rejected claim, the question he puts first is whether the amount at stake justifies it, given what operational or unsecured creditors are likely to receive under a plan. Sometimes the answer is to fight hard, especially where the rejection affects a creditor's category or its vote in the committee. Sometimes the better course is to accept a partial admission and pursue guarantors or directors outside the process. An NCLT order on a claim can be appealed to the NCLAT within 30 days under section 61, as our post on appealing to the NCLAT explains.
Homebuyers, employees and government departments
Homebuyers are financial creditors and file in Form CA as a class. Each class chooses an authorised representative from the three insolvency professionals named in the public announcement, and the representative votes in the committee on the class's behalf, following the instructions of the majority of the class. File the claim individually with your full payment record, and indicate your choice of representative. Our post on what homebuyers can do when the builder is under insolvency covers the voting and the options in more depth.
Employees and workmen file in Form D individually, or a union or representative files in Form E for a group. Unpaid salary from before the commencement date is a claim; salary for the period after it, for those who continue to work, is paid as a CIRP cost. Provident fund dues have special treatment, because PF contributions are not treated as assets of the company available to creditors, and the EPFO typically files its own claim.
Government departments, including the GST and income tax departments and local bodies, are operational creditors for statutory dues and file in Form B. A department that does not file risks having its demand wiped out by the approved plan. The RP should take account of dues reflected in the company's own records, but a department relying on that, rather than filing, is taking an unnecessary chance.
Can I claim against the company and the guarantor at the same time?
Yes. A creditor can file its full claim in the company's CIRP and, at the same time, pursue a personal guarantor or a corporate guarantor for the same debt. The moratorium does not protect guarantors, and the approval of a resolution plan does not discharge them; the Supreme Court said so in Lalit Kumar Jain v Union of India (2021). What you cannot do is recover more than the debt in total.
The practical rule is to keep the RP informed. If you receive money from a guarantor or from the sale of third-party security during the CIRP, you must update your claim to reflect it. If you recover after the plan is approved, the plan amount and the guarantor's payment together still cannot exceed what you were owed. Our posts on a guarantor's liability when the borrower defaults and personal guarantor insolvency under section 95 deal with the guarantor side.
A guarantor who pays the creditor steps into the creditor's shoes against the company to that extent, but under the 2026 amendment the guarantor cannot sue the company during the moratorium and must instead lodge a claim in the CIRP. A guarantor who has paid, or expects to, should therefore file a claim too, at least as a contingent claim.
What happens after my claim is admitted?
If you are a financial creditor, you become a member of the committee of creditors in proportion to your admitted claim. The committee appoints or confirms the RP, approves major decisions, and eventually votes on resolution plans, which need 66% of the voting share. If you are an operational creditor, you receive information about the process and, if your group crosses the 10% threshold, attend meetings through a representative.
Your admitted claim feeds into the information memorandum and the request for resolution plans. Plans are judged partly on how they treat each class of creditor. When a plan is approved by the committee and the NCLT, you are paid according to its terms, usually as a percentage of your admitted claim, sometimes in instalments, and sometimes partly in equity or other instruments for financial creditors.
If no plan is approved and the company goes into liquidation, the liquidator issues a fresh announcement and deals with claims under the liquidation regulations. Check whether your CIRP claim is carried forward or whether a fresh filing is needed, and file again if there is any doubt. Distribution in liquidation follows the order in section 53, and our post on liquidation under the IBC explains how that order works.
Mistakes that cost creditors their claims
- Waiting for a letter. The IRP has no duty to write to every creditor individually. The newspaper and the IBBI website are the notice.
- Relying on a pending suit. A pending suit, arbitration or cheque case is not a claim in the CIRP. Only a claim filed with the RP counts.
- Running interest past the commencement date. The claim stops on the admission date. Interest beyond it will be cut, and an inflated claim draws scrutiny to the rest.
- Attaching only a ledger. Your own ledger is not enough on its own. Attach invoices, delivery proof, contracts, acknowledgements and bank records.
- Choosing the wrong category without explanation. If your status is arguable, say why you are a financial or operational creditor and attach the documents that prove it.
- Not updating the claim. Recoveries from guarantors or security after the commencement date must be reported. Failing to do so can lead to the claim being reduced or questioned later.
- Challenging too late. A rejection challenged after the plan is approved almost always fails. Raise it with the RP at once and, if needed, go to the NCLT before the vote.
Before you send your claim
- Correct form for your category, in its current version
- Claim calculated up to the insolvency commencement date, not the filing date
- Separate interest calculation with the contractual or statutory basis
- Every invoice or disbursement listed and matched to a document
- Security interest and guarantees described, with copies
- Signature of an authorised person, with authority letter or board resolution
- Bank account details for distributions
- Choice of authorised representative, if you are in a class such as homebuyers
- Proof of sending: sent email, courier receipt or acknowledgement
Getting help with a claim
Most creditors can file a straightforward claim themselves, and many do. Legal help earns its cost in four situations: when the amount is large, when your category is arguable, when the claim involves interest or damages that the RP is likely to contest, and when the claim has been rejected and you need to decide whether to go to the NCLT. It also helps when you have claims against guarantors or directors running alongside, because the two need to be coordinated.
If you want an advocate to check your claim before you file it, or to read an RP's rejection and tell you what can be done, the team of Advocate B.K. Singh at B.K. Singh & Associates can review the papers through our online legal enquiry. Our pages on the insolvency lawyer in Delhi practice and the NCLT benches in Delhi explain how we handle tribunal work.
Frequently asked questions
What is the last date to file a claim in CIRP?
The last date is printed in the Form A public announcement and is 14 days from the appointment of the interim resolution professional. A creditor who misses it can still file up to the later of the 90th day from the commencement date or the date the RP issues the request for resolution plans.
Which form does an operational creditor use to file a claim?
Form B, under the CIRP Regulations. Workmen and employees use Form D instead, and a representative filing for a group of workers uses Form E.
Which form does a bank or lender use?
Form C, for financial creditors other than those in a class. Financial creditors file their claims electronically.
How do homebuyers file a claim against a builder in insolvency?
Homebuyers file Form CA as financial creditors in a class, with their allotment letter, agreement and payment proof. They also choose an authorised representative from the three insolvency professionals named in the public announcement.
Is there any fee to file a claim with the resolution professional?
No. Filing a claim with the IRP or RP carries no fee. Costs arise only if you need legal help or have to apply to the NCLT.
Can I claim interest in my IBC claim?
Yes, if the contract, an accepted invoice term or a statute such as the MSMED Act gives you the right to interest. Interest is calculated only up to the insolvency commencement date, not beyond.
What if I file my claim after the plan is approved?
It is generally too late. Once the NCLT approves a resolution plan, claims not included in it are extinguished, as held in Ghanashyam Mishra and Sons v Edelweiss ARC (2021) and now provided in section 31.
Can the resolution professional reject my claim?
Yes, wholly or in part, if the documents do not support it. Ask for written reasons, answer them with documents and, if the RP does not change its decision, apply to the NCLT under section 60(5).
How long does the resolution professional take to verify a claim?
Regulation 13 requires verification within seven days from the last date for receiving claims. The RP may ask for further documents, and admitted amounts can be revised later if new information comes in.
Should I file a claim if my case against the company is pending in court?
Yes. A pending suit, arbitration or cheque case does not count as a claim in the CIRP. File the claim and attach the pleadings or any orders as supporting documents.
Can I file a claim and also sue the guarantor?
Yes. The moratorium does not protect guarantors, and a resolution plan does not discharge them. You must update your claim if you recover anything from the guarantor during the CIRP.
Where can I see whether my claim has been admitted?
The RP maintains a list of creditors showing the amount claimed and admitted, which is displayed on the company's website where there is one and filed with the NCLT. You can also ask the RP directly for the status of your claim.
Written and reviewed at B.K. Singh & Associates
Advocate B.K. Singh
Founder of B.K. Singh & Associates. MCA, LL.B., LL.M., with more than twenty years of practice before the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court, district courts and tribunals across Delhi NCR. This article explains the general law as of 24 October 2026; it is not legal advice on your facts.