Bansal, in his petition before the Bengaluru bench of the NCLT, said that after taking charge as CEO in April 2021 he led Solv’s rise as a prominent marketplace for micro, small and medium enterprises. Solv reached nearly $400 million in valuation and $650 million in gross merchandise value by early 2025, serving over 400,000 small businesses, he added.

On 19 February 2025, Standard Chartered Research dismissed Bansal. In his petition, Bansal alleged the dismissal was abrupt, without due process, and retaliatory as he had raised concerns over corporate governance issues and his exclusion from Solv’s merger talks with Jumbotail Technologies.

As per Bansal’s petition, the termination letter specified payment of salary, notice period dues, and leave encashment. These, he alleged, remain unpaid.

Bansal filed his petition on 29 July. During the hearing on 1 August, Standard Chartered Research sought time to file its response to the petition. The court has not year notified the next date of hearing.

Claims before NCLT

The NCLT’s role in adjudicating such disputes goes beyond employment claims, said legal observers.

“The NCLT’s jurisdiction includes examining whether removals of key managerial personnel are simply contractual or rise to the level of shareholder oppression or poor governance,” said Shri Venkatesh, founding partner, SKV Law Offices.

He pointed to high-profile precedents: while the tribunal upheld Tata Sons’ right to dismiss Cyrus Mistry, in the McDonald’s–Vikram Bakshi dispute, the NCLT sided with Bakshi, finding executive removal had crossed into shareholder oppression.

Amir Bavani, founder of AB Legal, Hyderabad, said senior-level disputes at multinational corporations are always highly charged given the nature of the parties involved.

“Proceedings initiated by top management can change the complexion of the dispute. If the operational creditor succeeds, it could pave the way for other instances where insolvency threats prompt multinationals to proactively resolve such disputes. However, such petitions can easily be settled by compensating the personnel as per the employment contract,” Bavani said.

Under Section 9 of the IBC, operational creditors are entitled to seek insolvency proceedings if companies neglect undisputed dues after a formal demand notice.

Bansal, who is represented by Waseem Pangarkar, partner at MZM Legal, asserted that all such procedures had been followed.

Registered in India in 2019 as part of Standard Chartered’s digital innovation push, SCRTIPL, under the Solv brand, became a significant business-to-business (B2B) platform for MSMEs, incubated by SC Ventures.

Earlier this year, Jumbotail, a leading e-commerce and retail platform, acquired Solv India—operated by SCRTIPL—after receiving clearance from the Competition Commission of India. Jumbotail now owns 100% of this entity, fully integrating Solv’s offerings with its nationwide network of neighbourhood stores and business clients.

In July, Jumbotail raised $120 million in a Series D fundraising round led by SC Ventures, the investment arm of Standard Chartered Plc.

“As the matter is sub judice, SCRTIPL (Solv) will refrain from commenting at this stage. Our position has been clearly articulated in our submissions to the court, and we have full faith in the fairness and integrity of the judicial process,” Solv said in response to Mint’s queries.

Jumbotail and Amit Bansal did not respond to Mint’s requests for comment.