Insolvency law had teeth. Now, it's got dentures and nobody can save it

A country that needs to sweat every investor rupee and dollar to put its swelling, restive labor force to work will continue to abuse that very thing it doesn't have enough of: capital

Errant debtors are forever looking for ways to undermine creditor protection; but when lenders themselves start making a mockery of a fledgling insolvency law, nobody can save it.

That’s where India’s two-year-old bankruptcy regime is today, brought to the brink of irrelevance by the strain of resolving its most high-profile case: Essar Steel India Ltd. 

The billionaire Ruia brothers have used every trick in the book to ensure their prized asset stays in the family, despite owing financial creditors 508 billion rupees ($6.3 billion) in unpaid dues. Just as the process was crawling to a conclusion, with the lenders accepting