JUDGMENT :

SUDHANSU JYOTI MUKHOPADHAYA, J.

The appellant, Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd (HDFC Ltd), financial creditor, filed an application under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (I&B Code) against M/s RHC Holding Pvt Ltd (Corporate Debtor) which has been rejected by the Adjudicating Authority (National Company Law Tribunal), Principal Bench, New Delhi by impugned order dated 6.12.2018 giving rise to the present appeal.

2. The Adjudicating Authority held that the Respondent Company being a non-banking financial institution rendering ‘financial service’ is out of the purview of the I&B Code.

3. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant submitted that the Respondent is not a ‘financial service provider’. According to the appellant the intent and the purpose of the legislature is to specifically carve out a set of institutions that provide set of identified financial services. The exclusion cannot be beyond what has been contemplated by the I&B Code. The I&B Code is applicable to all entities other than those which are specifically engaged in