CoC (Committee of Creditors)

IBC, 2016 — Section 21

The governing body of financial creditors constituted during CIRP under the IBC. The CoC has commercial decision-making authority over the resolution process, including approval of the Resolution Plan by a 66% majority vote. Operational creditors with aggregate dues of at least 10% of total debts can participate but without voting rights.

In practice, the CoC is where the real power in an insolvency sits. Constituted from the financial creditors once CIRP begins, it makes the commercial calls the IBC entrusts to creditor wisdom — chiefly whether to approve a resolution plan, which needs a 66% vote, or to push the debtor into liquidation. A creditor's voting share, and therefore its influence, turns on the admitted value of its claim, so getting claims correctly proved and quantified directly affects the outcome. Operational creditors may attend if their aggregate dues cross the prescribed threshold, but without a vote, which is why the financial-versus-operational classification matters so much earlier in the process. For counsel advising a creditor, the practical work is securing CoC membership, maximising voting share, and steering the plan or liquidation choice. The costly error is under-proving a claim and ending up with too small a vote to shape the result. Well-advised creditors file and substantiate claims promptly under Section 21.