Statutory notice
An independent financial consultancy — not a law firm, and it does not practise law or advertise for work. Nothing here is advice, and no professional relationship arises from reading it. Read the full terms.
Financial recovery consultancy · Mumbai
Trace what is still recoverable, test the statutory timelines, and get a written position on your file — ordinarily within five working days of the papers reaching us.
Money stops moving for reasons that can usually be identified — a date that passed, a document nobody kept, an asset that quietly changed hands. Apex Advisory reconstructs what happened to your file, tells you in writing whether the claim is still alive and what it is realistically worth today, and helps you decide whether it is worth another rupee of your time.
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Every adverse party is screened before you disclose anything sensitive.
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You get a written position on the matter before any substantial fee is taken up.
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Fixed and hourly fees only. We never take a share of what is recovered.
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Not a law firm, and we say so on every page rather than in the fine print.
Individuals · Proprietors · Closely held businesses
A cheque that came back, money lent on trust, a decree nobody executed, a builder who stopped paying. You want to know whether it is still alive and what it is worth chasing.
Start here Track B · Portfolio & corporateCFOs · Promoters · NBFCs · Credit heads · Resolution professionals
Ageing receivables across many counterparties, security that was never tested, statutory windows running quietly in the background. You want the book triaged before you decide where to spend legal budget.
Corporate diligenceWhere most files come from
Different documents, different courts, one underlying problem: a sum that has stopped moving and nobody has looked at properly in a long time.
A cheque came back, and you are no longer certain which dates still matter.
You hold an order in your favour that has never been enforced against anything.
Money went to a partner, a relative or a friend on trust, and the phone stopped being answered.
Payments were made against a property, and possession keeps moving further away.
Your account has been classified and the notices have started arriving.
A business you supplied has gone quiet, and you suspect others are ahead of you in the queue.
The first useful question is not who to sue. It is whether the claim is still alive, what it is worth today, and what it would cost to find out.
Who you will actually be dealing with
For more than ten years, Deepesh Barbhaya has advised individuals, families and closely held businesses on money they could not get back on their own — sums lent on trust, receivables that outlasted the relationship, payments made against property that never arrived, and accounts that turned bad while everyone was still hoping.
The work itself is unglamorous. Rebuilding an account from whatever paper survived. Establishing what was actually agreed and what can be proved. Checking the calendar before the merits, because more claims are lost to dates than to arguments. Then saying plainly whether the thing is worth pursuing — including when the honest answer is that it is not.
On a single matter that is often one person's work from start to finish. On a portfolio it is not, and we do not pretend otherwise. Larger engagements are staffed from a panel of independent specialists engaged for that file, briefed by the principal, and reporting through him — so the analysis scales while the accountability stays in one place.
Chartered accountants and audit-side analysts engaged per matter to rebuild ledgers, test appropriation of payments and reconcile disputed statements against primary records.
Title search and revenue-record specialists working from registry, sub-registry, RoC and encumbrance sources — documentary work only, obtained through the channels the law provides for it.
Advocates you appoint directly and who owe their duties to you. They are briefed with a prepared file rather than a box of papers, which is the point of the exercise.
Apex Advisory is a financial consultancy. It is not a law firm, it does not practise law, and Mr Barbhaya is not an enrolled advocate. Nothing offered here is legal advice or legal representation.
Where a matter needs a legal opinion, a notice, pleadings, or appearance before any court, tribunal or authority, that work is done by independent advocates whom you engage directly, on their own terms, and who owe their professional duties to you and not to us. We do not receive, share or pay any referral consideration for such introductions.
The advisory work
In each of these, our part is the same: establish the facts, quantify the exposure, test it against time and enforceability, and set out the options in writing. The legal steps, where any are needed, belong to advocates you appoint.
B/01 — Instruments
Reading the return memo, the underlying transaction and the sequence of dates; establishing what the instrument was actually given for; assembling the factual brief so that whoever advises you legally is not starting from a shoebox.
B/02 — Receivables
Reconstructing the account from invoices, ledgers, part-payments, emails and acknowledgements. Which of those documents keep a claim current and which merely feel like they do is the whole exercise.
B/03 — Enforcement
An order in your favour is paper until something is found to enforce it against. Asset mapping, corporate and property record searches, and an honest view on whether there is anything left to reach.
B/04 — Immovable
Title and encumbrance diligence, the chain of documents, and what a delayed possession or a blocked payment is realistically worth today — before more money follows the money already committed.
B/05 — Classified accounts
Reading the notices and the timeline, checking the valuation and the numbers behind them, and preparing the arithmetic of a settlement proposal so the conversation with the lender is about figures rather than fear.
B/06 — Counterparty distress
Understanding where you stand among everyone else who is owed, what documentation a claim will require, and whether waiting, settling or acting is the better commercial decision.
Across all six, Apex Advisory prepares. It does not appear, plead or advise on law — where a legal step is required, it is taken by an advocate you engage on your own terms.
Track B · Corporate receivables & portfolio diligence
Below a point, each bad debt gets handled on its own merits. Above it, that stops working: legal budget goes to whichever file shouts loudest, statutory windows close on accounts nobody looked at this quarter, and the provision keeps growing without anyone being able to say which part of it is genuinely gone. Portfolio work is triage before it is recovery.
The whole book triaged in one exercise, so legal spend follows evidence rather than noise.
TypicallyLedgers above ₹10 crore, or fifty-plus open accounts
For single claims large enough that the question is not whether to act, but whether there is anything to act against.
TypicallyClaims above ₹5 crore, or unexecuted decrees of any size
Continuous cover, so the calendar stops being the thing that kills claims.
TypicallyNBFCs, credit heads, manufacturers with recurring trade exposure
Multi-party debt workouts where the negotiation turns on whose numbers hold up.
TypicallyConsortium exposures, promoter settlements, pre-insolvency workouts
Where several creditors are chasing one failing counterparty and nobody's figure agrees with anybody else's.
TypicallyTrade-creditor groups, consortium lenders, family and promoter settlements
How a book of counterparty data is taken in, held and given back — agreed before a single ledger moves.
Applies toEvery corporate and portfolio engagement, without exception
12 yrs
The execution window on a money decree under Article 136 — the single most commonly missed date in a corporate book.
5 days
Ordinary turnaround from complete papers to a written position on a single matter.
6
Exposure classes covered, from dishonoured instruments through to counterparties already in insolvency.
0%
Of any recovery taken as fee. Fixed and hourly only, so the ranking of your book is not written by our invoice.
The work that happens first — reconstructing the ledger, testing which dates hold, checking what is registered against an asset — is documentary and non-adversarial. It is done on your own records and on public registers. Nothing is served on anybody, nothing is filed, and your counterparty is not contacted at this stage unless you instruct it.
That matters commercially. Most receivables sit with people you would rather keep trading with. Knowing precisely what you can prove, and by when, is what lets you hold a firm position in a commercial conversation without turning it into litigation — and it is what tells you which accounts are worth a settlement discount and which are not.
The reconstruction is also independent of the outcome. No part of the fee is contingent on recovery, so the figure you are given is the figure the documents support. Where the honest answer is that the balance cannot be proved as it stands, or that the window has closed, that is what the written position will say.
Money never moves through us. Any recovery, settlement amount or refund is paid by the counterparty directly to you or into an account in your name, or is held in escrow by the advocate or bank you appoint. Apex Advisory does not operate a client account and does not receive recovery proceeds on your behalf.
Books above ₹5 crore go to an expedited screening channel with a scoping call inside two working days. No fee attaches to the scoping call, and no documents are requested before conflict screening clears.
Reference · Statutory periods
The periods below are set by statute and apply generally. What they do not tell you is when your clock started, whether anything restarted it, or whether an exception applies — those are questions of fact and law on your own papers. Use this to know what to go and check.
The sequence we run before a single rupee of legal budget is committed: what to pull from the ledger, which dates to establish first, what turns a disputed balance into a provable one, and where a receivables book most often leaks. Written for a finance team, not for lawyers.
General statements of the statutory position, not advice on your matter. Your own dates, documents and any exception that applies are what decide the answer on your file.
Four dates run in sequence. The cheque must be presented within three months of its date, or within its validity period if that is shorter. The statutory notice must be issued within 30 days of receiving the dishonour memo from the bank, under Section 138(b) of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881. The drawer then has 15 days from receipt to pay. The complaint must be filed within 30 days of that 15-day period expiring, under Section 142(1)(b). Delay in filing may be condoned on sufficient cause shown under the proviso to Section 142(1)(b). If the instrument route has closed, the underlying debt remains a separate claim with its own limitation.
Twelve years from the date the decree becomes enforceable, under Article 136 of the Limitation Act, 1963. Where the decree provides for payment in instalments, the twelve years runs from the default in respect of which execution is sought. A step-in-aid of execution taken within the period does not by itself extend the outer limit. In practice this is the most commonly missed date in a corporate receivables book, because an unexecuted decree is usually filed away rather than diarised.
A borrower has 60 days from the notice under Section 13(2) of the SARFAESI Act, 2002 before the secured creditor may take measures under Section 13(4). Representations or objections made within that period must be considered by the secured creditor, whose reasons for rejection are required to be communicated. The window is short and the arithmetic in the notice is frequently worth testing before it is treated as settled. The 60 days is a period to use, not merely a period to wait out.
Ordinarily the period for the price of goods sold and delivered on an open account is three years, running from the date the amount became due rather than from the last invoice or the last conversation. The position can change if there is a written acknowledgement of the debt signed before the period expired, or a part payment appropriated to principal, either of which starts a fresh period under Sections 18 and 19 of the Limitation Act, 1963. Whether a given document amounts to an acknowledgement in law turns on its exact wording.
A write-off is an accounting decision taken for the balance sheet. It does not extinguish the claim, and it does not decide the limitation position. What matters is whether the statutory period is still open, whether anything on the file restarted it, and whether the balance can be proved as it stands. Reconstruction frequently turns up an acknowledgement, a part payment or an unexecuted decree that puts a written-off balance back in play.
No. Apex Advisory is an independent financial consultancy. It does not practise law, does not appear before any court, tribunal or authority, and no person associated with it holds themselves out as an advocate. Where a matter requires legal advice, drafting or appearance, that work is done by independent advocates engaged directly by the client on their own terms. The consultancy’s role is reconstruction, diligence, settlement arithmetic and coordination alongside those advocates.
Six commitments, in the engagement letter
Every one of these is written into the engagement letter and signed. If you have been let down on this matter before, it was probably by someone who would not put them on paper.
You are never quoted a recovery amount or a date to win the file. No figure, no timeline, no promised outcome — anyone who offers you one is guessing, and charging you for the guess. What you get instead is an assessment you can act on.
Fees are fixed or hourly, agreed in writing before work starts, and they do not move with your result. Nothing is deducted from what comes back. That is precisely what keeps the advice honest when the honest answer is inconvenient.
The work is documentary and lawful throughout — no calls, no visits, no agents, no pressure of any kind on any person. Pressure tactics are not recovery; they are a second liability you would then own on top of the first.
Settlement proceeds, deposits and recoveries reach you or the advocate you appoint directly. We neither collect nor hold client money at any stage, so there is no account of yours for us to be slow with.
Legal advice, pleadings and appearance are the advocate's functions, and your advocate performs them on their own terms. Our work is the analysis and the file preparation that makes their job faster — and we say where the line falls rather than blurring it.
If the review shows the money is genuinely gone, you get that in writing and the engagement ends there. Being told at the review stage — instead of three years and several fee notes later — is often the most valuable thing the exercise produces.
How an engagement runs
The order is fixed because each step protects the one after it. Nothing is prepared before the dates are checked, and nothing leaves the office before you have read it.
You send a short summary of the dispute and the names involved — nothing confidential and no documents. Every named party is screened against existing engagements. If there is a conflict, you are told immediately and we go no further.
Once screening is clear, the papers are examined: memos, ledgers, agreements, correspondence, title documents, notices. You receive a written position — whether the claim appears live, what it looks worth, what the realistic routes are, and what each would cost.
If you decide to proceed, a consultancy engagement letter is signed with the scope and the fee schedule annexed to it. Nothing beyond the initial review is taken up before that is in place.
The file is built, the numbers are prepared, and where legal steps are required, advocates you appoint are briefed and kept supplied. You see every document before it goes anywhere, and you deal with your advocate directly.
A written update follows every real development, not every calendar month. You may end the engagement on fifteen days' written notice; on settlement of what is billed, your papers come back to you without argument.
Illustrative — hypothetical composites, not actual matters
Four patterns that recur often enough to be worth setting out. The figures and facts below are constructed for illustration; they do not describe any client, party or file, and nothing here should be read as an outcome we obtained or can obtain.
Every file is different, and none of the above is a prediction. What is consistent is the method: the dates are checked first, the documents are tested for what they can actually prove, and you are told plainly if the exercise has nowhere to go.
Engagement & fees
Consultancy fees for the advisory work are set out below. Ranges reflect volume and complexity; the figure for your matter is fixed in writing before anything is taken up, and it does not move afterwards without your written agreement.
| Scope of work | Consultancy fee (INR) |
|---|---|
| Initial consultationSixty minutes, in person or by video, on your papers | 5,000 |
| Written position on a matterWhether the claim is live, what it appears worth, the routes open to you | 25,000 – 60,000 |
| Account reconstruction & document auditRebuilding the ledger and testing what can actually be proved | 35,000 – 1,00,000 |
| Title & encumbrance diligence, per assetSearch, chain of documents, written diligence report | 25,000 – 75,000 |
| Settlement arithmetic & proposal preparationValuation review, workings, and the numbers behind the offer | 40,000 – 1,25,000 |
| Scope of work | Consultancy fee (INR) |
|---|---|
| Enterprise portfolio auditWhole-book triage: ageing against limitation, provability, ranked schedule. Ledgers above ₹10 crore | 1,50,000 – 4,00,000 |
| High-exposure asset & decree diligenceDocumentary asset tracing, title and encumbrance position, execution viability. Claims above ₹5 crore | 1,00,000 – 3,00,000 |
| Standing credit retainerContinuous limitation and statutory-window watch, quarterly written position, named response window | 75,000 – 2,50,000 / month |
| Workout & settlement arithmeticIndependent reconstruction, recovery-versus-cost modelling, proposals with workings annexed | 1,50,000 – 5,00,000 |
Taxes. Goods and Services Tax is charged in addition to the fees above, at the rate applicable on the date of invoice.
Advocates & statutory charges. Advocates' fees, court fees, stamp duty, search and process charges are payable by you directly to the advocate or authority concerned. Where we pay any such amount on your instructions, it is reimbursed at actuals against receipts, with no mark-up.
No success fee. We do not charge on the basis of the amount recovered, and no part of our fee is contingent on the outcome of any proceeding or settlement.
Sixty minutes on your papers, in person at the Borivali office or by video. You leave it knowing whether the file is worth taking further and what the next step would cost. Payable in advance; adjusted against the written position if you proceed to one.
Slots are held for 15 minutes while payment is completed · Reschedule from the confirmation email
The terms that protect you
These are the operative terms of the engagement letter, summarised. The letter itself is what governs, and you will have read it before you sign it.
Your papers, figures and instructions are confidential. They are seen by no one outside the engagement except an advocate you have appointed, and only on your instruction — unless disclosure is compelled by law or by an order.
Personal data is processed only to assess and carry out your engagement, under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the Information Technology Act, 2000. You may withdraw consent, ask what is held, or ask for it to be erased. Digital transmission carries inherent risk, and we say so rather than promising otherwise.
Recovery depends on evidence, on the counterparty's actual position, and on decisions taken by courts, tribunals and authorities that are outside anyone's control. We commit to method and diligence. We commit to nothing else.
Our engagement covers advisory and analytical work only. It does not extend to legal advice, drafting of pleadings, or appearance, and no communication from us should be relied upon as legal advice.
Aggregate liability for any error or breach is limited to the consultancy fees actually received for that matter. Indirect and consequential loss is excluded, to the extent Indian law permits. We are not answerable for the conduct or advice of an advocate you appoint.
Any dispute under the engagement letter goes to a sole arbitrator appointed by mutual consent under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, seated at Mumbai and conducted in English. Subject to that, the courts at Mumbai have exclusive jurisdiction.
Coverage · Jurisdictions & industrial belts
Where a counterparty trades decides which registry holds the charge, which sub-registrar holds the title, and which forum any eventual proceeding belongs to. Below is where the work actually comes from, and the forums matters are prepared for — by the advocates you appoint, with the file built here.
The office is on Gorai Road, Borivali West. Most single-file work walks in from the belt around it.
Corporate and portfolio instructions come from finance teams, NBFCs and lenders in the city’s business districts.
Trade-dues files usually trace back to a warehouse, a mandi or a manufacturing estate rather than to an office.
Cross-border trade exposure between Maharashtra buyers and Gujarat suppliers is a recurring pattern, and it is worked with advocates on record in the relevant district.
Preparation is scoped to the forum the matter belongs to. Appearance is by the advocate you engage, not by this consultancy.
Diligence is documentary. These are the registers a written position is built from.
On jurisdiction. Nothing above is a claim to practise, appear or hold a licence anywhere. It is a description of the commercial belts the practice works across and the forums files are prepared for. Every proceeding is conducted by an independent advocate engaged directly by the client, on that advocate’s own terms.
Contact
Send a short summary of what happened and who was involved. You will get a conflict-screening outcome and a first view, without obligation and without a fee.
Nothing you send at this stage should be confidential or privileged. Screening comes first; the secure link comes after.
Under a minute. No documents and nothing confidential at this stage — conflict screening comes first.
What kind of claim is it?
Pick the closest. It only decides who reads the file first.
Roughly what is at stake?
An approximation is fine. Principal amount, ignoring interest.
Where and when should we call?
You will get a conflict-screening outcome and a first view, without obligation and without a fee.
Sending this creates no professional relationship of any kind, and no obligation on either side.
Received. You will hear back within one working day.
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