The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has notified the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) (Fifth Amendment) Regulations, 2026, on 30 October 2026, and announced them through Press Release No. IBBI/PR/2026/18 dated 31 October 2026. The amendments rewrite how the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) handles a corporate debtor that has real estate projects: resolution must now proceed project by project, a project can be recommended for exclusion from CIRP, and homebuyers get a formal seat at the implementation table.
In plain business-owner language: if a builder goes into insolvency, the new rules stop treating all its projects as one lump. A finished or nearly finished project can be carved out so its buyers are not dragged through the whole insolvency, every project gets its own money trail and its own completion-cost assessment, and any resolution plan must say, project by project and tower by tower, when buyers will actually get their homes.
💡 Quick answer: IBBI's Fifth Amendment Regulations, 2026, notified on 30 October 2026, require project-wise handling of real estate CIRPs: the Committee of Creditors may recommend excluding a project with at least 66% voting share, an independent cost-to-complete assessment must precede expressions of interest, and resolution plans must give project-wise delivery timelines.
The press release states the aim in one place: more informed and viable resolution of real estate projects, greater transparency and accountability, and stronger protection of homebuyers' and other stakeholders' interests in CIRP. One important honesty note before the detail: the press release does not state a separate commencement date for the amended regulations, and it does not reproduce the superseded regulation text. This article therefore gives the notification date (30 October 2026) and the press-release date (31 October 2026), and does not assert a commencement date or quote old regulation wording — anything beyond the press release on those points is marked NOT CHECKED.
What IBBI has changed — the nine changes
1. Project-wise money, project-wise reporting. A separate bank account must be operated for each real estate project of the corporate debtor. The resolution professional (RP) must place project-wise statements of receipts and payments and other financial information before the Committee of Creditors (CoC), at intervals the CoC considers appropriate. Compliance with the fund-utilisation requirements of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) must be ensured during CIRP, so that funds contributed for a project are used for that project.
2. A project can be excluded from CIRP. Where a corporate debtor has multiple real estate projects, the RP must place project-wise information before the CoC at its first meeting, including RERA registration details, the stage of completion, the status of possession and occupancy, and details of completed and incomplete units. On that information, the CoC may, with at least 66% voting share, recommend to the Adjudicating Authority that a real estate project be excluded from CIRP, with recorded reasons. The RP must then file an application before the Adjudicating Authority carrying the CoC's recorded reasons. The stated purpose is project-wise treatment: minimising disruption to completed or occupied projects and focusing resolution on the projects that genuinely need intervention. Note carefully — the CoC recommends, the Adjudicating Authority decides; a 66% CoC vote does not by itself remove a project from CIRP.
3. An independent cost-to-complete assessment comes first. The RP, with the CoC's prior approval, must appoint one or more suitably qualified and independent professionals to carry out a project-wise technical and cost-to-complete assessment before expressions of interest are invited. The assessment must cover the physical status of construction, regulatory approvals, sold and unsold inventory, estimated completion costs, funding requirements, timelines and risks affecting completion. It forms part of the Information Memorandum (IM), is made available to prospective resolution applicants, and its cost forms part of insolvency resolution process costs. The stated purpose is a common, credible baseline on cost and time for completion, reducing information asymmetry and enabling better-quality, more realistic bids.
4. Much deeper Information Memorandum disclosures. The IM must contain comprehensive project-wise information, including sanctioned, completed and under-construction units; sold and unsold inventory; construction progress, including the stage of completion of common areas, common facilities and amenities; statutory approvals and permissions; permissible development area; encumbrances and lender-wise details of charges; pending litigations and statutory dues; regulatory status, including pending regulatory proceedings, penalties and complaints; and the balance in the designated RERA bank account. It must also include details of allottees whose claims appear in the corporate debtor's books of accounts or RERA records but who have not submitted claims to the RP, and project-wise details of allottees seeking possession, refund, conveyance or other relief, along with the number of allottees who have not indicated any preference.
5. Homebuyer representatives get a louder, recorded voice. The choice of authorised representatives (ARs) offered to a class of creditors such as homebuyers must be accompanied by their brief profiles and information on their roles and duties. ARs must submit minutes of their meetings with creditors to the RP, who must place them before the CoC at its next meeting. CoC meeting minutes must also record the views, concerns and opinions expressed by ARs on behalf of creditors in a class.
6. Homebuyers and RERA sit on the monitoring committee. Where the corporate debtor has real estate projects, the monitoring committee for implementation of the resolution plan must include the AR of creditors in a class or another representative of allottees chosen by majority vote. It must also include representatives of the concerned RERA and the competent authority, wherever applicable, subject to their agreement. The stated purpose is to catch approval, compliance and construction-milestone issues early, reducing implementation delays and disputes.
7. Resolution plans must be project-wise, down to tower timelines. Every resolution plan for a corporate debtor having real estate projects must give project-wise details of sanctioned, constructed and under-construction units, segregating sold and unsold units. It must specify the treatment of allottees' claims, including through possession, execution of conveyance deeds, registration or transfer of title, refund or other appropriate means. It must provide for allottees who have not submitted claims but whose details are in the IM. And it must specify project-wise, phase-wise or tower-wise timelines for completion and delivery of units, as applicable, with periodic progress reporting to the monitoring committee.
8. Faster handover of possession to homebuyers. The CoC gets flexibility in approving homebuyers' requests for handover of possession of their plots, apartments or buildings and facilitation of registration under Regulation 4E. The CoC may approve each request individually, or grant in-principle approval authorising the RP to process all such requests as and when received during CIRP — avoiding a fresh CoC approval for every request and enabling faster delivery to eligible homebuyers.
9. Two procedural improvements. The RP must continue to discharge CIRP responsibilities until the Adjudicating Authority decides an application for withdrawal under section 12A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. And the confidentiality obligation relating to valuation has been extended to cover valuation reports, in addition to fair value and liquidation value.
Old vs new
The press release does not reproduce the superseded regulation text, so this table does not quote old regulation wording. It contrasts the general CIRP position with the new project-wise requirements the amendment prescribes, exactly as the press release frames them.
Who is affected
Homebuyers (allottees) are the clearest beneficiaries on paper: their project can be excluded from a group-wide insolvency, their claims — including claims of allottees who never filed, where the details sit in the books or RERA records — must be dealt with in the plan, their representative sits on the monitoring committee, and possession handover can now be approved in principle rather than request by request.
Resolution professionals carry the new workload: project-wise information at the CoC's first meeting, project-wise accounts and reporting, an independent assessment commissioned with CoC approval before expressions of interest, and continued responsibility until a section 12A withdrawal application is decided.
Committees of creditors and prospective resolution applicants get both more power and more information: the CoC gains the 66% exclusion recommendation and the in-principle handover route, while applicants bidding on a real estate debtor will now see a standardised, independently assessed completion-cost baseline in the IM instead of building their own from scratch.
Lenders, RERA authorities and competent authorities are drawn into the machinery: lender-wise charges must be disclosed in the IM, and RERA and competent-authority representatives join monitoring committees where applicable and where they agree.
What to do next
Step 1 — Resolution professionals: rework the first CoC meeting pack. For any corporate debtor with real estate projects, the first meeting must now carry project-wise information — RERA registration, completion stage, possession and occupancy status, and completed versus incomplete units — because that pack is what an exclusion recommendation is built on.
Step 2 — Separate the money, project by project. Operate a separate bank account for each project, and build the project-wise receipts-and-payments reporting cycle the CoC sets, checking RERA fund-utilisation compliance as you go.
Step 3 — Commission the assessment before inviting interest. Get CoC approval, appoint suitably qualified independent professionals, and make sure the assessment — construction status, approvals, inventory, completion cost, funding, timelines and risks — lands in the IM before expressions of interest go out.
Step 4 — Homebuyers and their representatives: use the new record. Insist on AR profiles and role information, keep minutes of creditor meetings and get them to the RP for the next CoC meeting, and check that the CoC minutes record the class's views — the amendment makes that record a duty, not a courtesy.
Step 5 — Resolution applicants: test bids against the assessment. Use the IM's independent cost-to-complete baseline and the plan's project-wise, phase-wise or tower-wise delivery timelines as the yardstick for whether a plan is realistic — and check that non-claimant allottees are provided for in the plan.
⚠️ Trap to avoid: do not read the 66% CoC vote as an exclusion. The CoC only recommends, with recorded reasons; the project leaves CIRP only if the Adjudicating Authority allows the RP's application. Acting as though a project is already excluded — stopping its CIRP treatment on the strength of the vote alone — would misread the mechanism the amendment actually creates.
What is NOT covered
This amendment does not change the CIRP framework for corporate debtors without real estate projects, and it does not by itself decide any individual project exclusion — each exclusion still needs a CoC recommendation and an Adjudicating Authority decision. It does not state a commencement date in the press release, so this article does not assert one. It does not publish the full regulation text; the press release says the amended regulations are available on IBBI's website. Two further IBBI circulars dated 30 October 2026 appear on IBBI's circulars list — on RERA compliance and CIRP disclosure at project and office sites, and on a revised Form CA for real estate allottee claims — but their texts were not read for this article and they are NOT covered here. Figures about how many real estate insolvencies or homebuyers are involved do not appear in the press release and are NOT stated here.
Frequently asked questions
What is the IBBI CIRP Fifth Amendment Regulations, 2026?
It is IBBI's fifth amendment in 2026 to the Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons Regulations, 2016, notified on 30 October 2026 and announced by Press Release No. IBBI/PR/2026/18 dated 31 October 2026, prescribing project-wise handling of CIRP for corporate debtors with real estate projects.
Can a single real estate project be taken out of CIRP?
It can be recommended for exclusion: the CoC may recommend exclusion to the Adjudicating Authority with at least 66% voting share and recorded reasons, and the RP then files the application. The Adjudicating Authority decides; the CoC vote alone does not exclude the project.
What must the independent assessment cover?
The project-wise technical and cost-to-complete assessment must cover physical construction status, regulatory approvals, sold and unsold inventory, estimated completion costs, funding requirements, timelines and risks affecting completion, and it must be completed before expressions of interest are invited.
Do homebuyers who never filed a claim get anything?
Yes, on the amendment's terms: the IM must include details of allottees whose claims appear in the corporate debtor's books or RERA records even if they did not submit claims, and the resolution plan must provide for the treatment of such allottees.
Who sits on the monitoring committee now?
For a corporate debtor with real estate projects, the monitoring committee must include the authorised representative of creditors in a class or another allottee representative chosen by majority vote, plus representatives of the concerned RERA and the competent authority where applicable, subject to their agreement.
Can homebuyers get possession faster during CIRP?
Yes, potentially: the CoC may grant in-principle approval authorising the RP to process possession handover requests as they arrive under Regulation 4E, instead of approving each request individually.
When do the new rules take effect?
The press release states the regulations were notified on 30 October 2026 but does not state a separate commencement date, so this article does not assert one — check the regulation text on IBBI's website for the commencement provision.
Sources
Primary source: IBBI Press Release No. IBBI/PR/2026/18 dated 31 October 2026, “Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India strengthens the framework for resolution of corporate debtors having real estate projects” (official IBBI PDF) — https://ibbi.gov.in/uploads/press/0db6aaa5f59d9190fd597e97cdc36795.pdf. Official press-release listing — https://ibbi.gov.in/media/press-releases. Instrument announced: Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) (Fifth Amendment) Regulations, 2026, notified 30 October 2026. Statutes and framework cited in the press release: Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (section 12A), Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA), and Regulation 4E of the CIRP Regulations. No news source is relied on for any fact in this article.
