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Informist, Wednesday, Jun. 10, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Bengaluru bench of the National Company Law Tribunal Wednesday rejected Netambit Value First Services Pvt. Ltd.'s plea seeking to start insolvency proceedings against Flipkart Internet Pvt. Ltd. for alleged dues of INR 43.71 million. There is a pre-existing dispute between the companies in respect of the alleged default of payment of operational debt, hence there can be no insolvency proceedings against Flipkart, said the tribunal.

 

"Disputes raised by the corporate debtor (Flipkart) are related to efficacy and scope of the marketing programme, thus directly related to invoices raised for providing services by the operational creditor (Netambit)," said the tribunal. In terms of the Supreme Court's ruling on this issue, it has been held that the tribunal has to see the existence of a pre-existing dispute and not the correctness or truthfulness in the dispute in insolvency cases, it said.

 

Netambit Value is engaged in the business of lead generation, fulfilment, sales support, and staffing solutions to boost businesses. Flipkart Internet is one of India's leading e-commerce marketplaces engaged in the business of operating an online marketplace in the name and style "Flipkart", through its mobile and web application. 

 

In December 2024, Flipkart approached Netambit Value with a proposal to pilot a marketplace affiliate model. The objective was to strengthen Flipkart's affiliate programme by leveraging Netambit Value's resources and expertise in managing large-scale onboarding, sales support, and customer engagement. 

 

The commercial arrangement between the companies was recorded and structured in a manner where Netambit Value not only provided manpower and infrastructure support but also bore significant upfront expenditure towards onboarding, training, and managing affiliates, with the expectation of timely reimbursements and payments from Flipkart in accordance with the agreed terms. Thereafter, Flipkart communicated to Netambit Value their decision to stop the marketing programme and specifically admit the crystallised liability in relation to the pending invoices. Accepting Flipkart's decision, Netambit Value sought payment of the outstanding invoices against which the latter had rendered its services.

 

While Flipkart initially made payments under certain invoices, it subsequently, without assigning any reason or raising any dispute, abruptly stopped making payment against several invoices raised pursuant to the purchase orders, said Netambit Value. Such conduct on the part of Flipkart not only demonstrates a clear default but also establishes that the operational creditor had fully discharged its obligations under the purchase orders, while the corporate debtor failed to honour its payment commitments, said Netambit Value.

 

Flipkart said that the programme under the arrangement was not delivering the intended city-level growth and that a significant proportion of orders were being generated in a manner inconsistent with a localised affiliate-led model. Flipkart raised issues relating to governance and control over affiliate conduct.

 

The insolvency petition is liable to be dismissed at the threshold as the alleged operational debt is the subject matter of serious, substantial and bona fide disputes which had arisen between the parties much prior to the issuance of the demand notice by Netambit Value, said Flipkart. It had specifically disputed the manner of execution of the programme, the deviation from the agreed programme construct, the abnormal affiliate level order patterns, the lack of city-level growth, governance failures, and the entitlement of Netambit Value to the invoices now sought to be enforced, said Flipkart.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

 

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