In a surprising turn of events, Hinduja Group Limited raised its offer for Reliance Capital Limited's (NSEI:RELCAPITAL) assets to INR 90,000 million, topping Torrent Investments Private Limited's (Torrent Group) previous highest bid of INR 86,400 million, according to two people familiar with the matter. When bids for Reliance Capital closed on December 21, 2022. Torrent Group submitted the highest total bid of INR 86,400 million among the two bidders.

Torrent is offering to pay the lenders the remaining INR 46,400 million at zero interest over 3, 4, and 5 years. The auction process for Reliance Capital has been marked by several twists and turns, with two frontrunners, Oaktree and the Cosmea-Piramal consortium, withdrawing from the race at the last minute. Hinduja's revised bid has caught the Reliance Capital lenders by surprise as the e-auction process concluded on December 21, 2022.

"The Hindujas' bid has come outside of the timeline. If the lenders agree to this, then Torrent could challenge his in the court, and this could further delay the resolution process," said the first official on condition of anonymity. The next meeting of lenders is scheduled for December 26, 2022 when advisers KPMG and Deloitte will present their final analysis for lenders to vote and choose one of the two plans.

Emails to the spokespeople of Hinduja and Torrent, and calls to the administrator went unanswered. The National Company Law Tribunal has set January 31, 2023, as the deadline for the resolution of Reliance Capital.