Art Director Nitin Desai defaulted on Rs 252 crore loan a week before his death

Akash Bhatnagar

August 2, 2023
4:57 pm
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Art director Nitin Desai, who was found dead at his studio in Karjat on Wednesday, was facing a financial crisis before his demise. He had defaulted on a Rs 252 crore loan just a week before his death.

Nitin Desai defaulted on Rs 252 crore loan before suicide

Nitin Desai had defaulted on paying back a Rs 252 crore loan and a bankruptcy court had admitted an insolvency petition against his company. The incident had happened just a week before his death. Nitin’s company ND’s Art World Pvt Ltd had taken two loans totaling up Rs 185 crores. The two loans were taken in 2016 and 2018 from ECL Finance. Nitin had been facing trouble making his instalments since January 2020.

The art director had opened his own ND Studio on the outskirts of Mumbai where Jodhaa Akbar was shot. His company is also in the business of organising, maintaining, and operating replicas of historical monuments and providing facilities and services related to hotels, theme restaurants, shopping malls and recreation centres.

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A petition filed by Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company was admitted on July 25 by the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal. The petition was to initiate a corporate insolvency resolution process.

The bench’s Member (judicial) HV Subba Rao and member (technical) Anu Jagmohan Singh had brought on Jitender Kothari as the interim resolution professional after hearing both the sides. And as per the order, the ND’s Art World management would be with him during the process. Typically, the work of an insolvency professional includes ensuring that all the creditors get their dues by selling securities. They also have to take care of day-to-day business operations.

As per the order, on March 31, 2021, the account was classified as a non-performing asset by the creditors. By June 30, 2022, the total default amount was Rs 252.48 crore. Nitin’s company had drafted a reply before the passing of the order. In it, they had noted that there was a fire at the studio on May 7, 2021. It resulted in huge loss of property. The reply also blamed the creditors for sending a recovery notice on the same day.

Some recent reports had suggested that he financial creditor had approached district authorities in Raigad to take possession of ND Studio a few months ago.

Nitin Desai movies

Professionally, Nitin was associated with many big Bollywood movies. It included frequent works with Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Ashutosh Gowariker. His filmography boasted movies like Khamoshi: The Musical, Maachis, Ishq, Pyar To Hona Hi Tha, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Devdas, Josh, Munnabhai MBBS and many more. His last film was Ashutosh’s Panipat.