Asset tracing
A ranked map of what a debtor owns, who controls it and how reachable it is, graded by evidence so counsel can act on it.
Title, encumbrance, bank-facility and partnership tracing to support recovery and execution proceedings.
A decree or award is only as good as the assets behind it. Debtors rarely hide assets outright. More often they place value beyond the debtor company: plant and property in an affiliate, a brand registered to a sister company, receivables routed through new entities, and a disclosure in execution that says there is nothing to attach. We follow the value, not only the debtor's name, across group companies, promoters and trading channels.
The work runs as one chain: mobilise, map, trace, verify, then assess and report. Five workstreams feed it: corporate and financial records; property and encumbrances, including sub-registrar indices, RoC charges and CERSAI; the group, its promoters and its intellectual property; business and asset movement since the dispute began; and field verification of sites with geo-tagged, time-stamped photographs.
Every finding carries a grade. Verified means confirmed from a primary record or by our own physical verification. An investigative finding is our analysis or observation, corroborated by at least two independent sources. A third-party source is reported as such and flagged for follow-up. Each asset is then placed in a recoverability tier, so counsel can see what is readily attachable, what needs process, what needs further legal action and what is not practically recoverable.
You hold a decree, award or claim, but cannot see what the debtor owns or where it sits.
Signs we see most often
- 01You hold a decree or award but cannot see what the debtor owns.
- 02The debtor has filed, or is likely to file, a disclosure claiming it has no assets while the business keeps trading.
- 03The debtor's brand, plant or property appears to sit with a group company.
- 04New companies or related-party transfers appeared once the dispute began.
- 05You are weighing execution against insolvency and need to know what each route could reach.
- 06A guarantor's or promoter's net worth is in doubt.
Scoped in writing, run by one accountable team.
Every engagement starts with agreed questions, a reporting line and a confidentiality protocol. The steps below are how this service usually runs; we adapt them to your matter.
- 01MobiliseReceive counsel's documents and confirm the entities, sites and priorities.
- 02MapMap the debtor, its group and its promoters from filings, registers and shareholdings.
- 03TraceTrace property, movables, receivables, intellectual property and investments, class by class, including movements since the dispute began.
- 04VerifyConfirm ownership, charges and value range from primary records, and observe sites lawfully on the ground.
- 05RankGrade every finding by its evidence and place every asset in a recoverability tier.
- 06ReportDeliver the findings with enforcement levers for counsel and the questions that remain open.
An asset map ranked by recoverability, with evidence counsel can file.
- An asset tracing report setting out findings, basis and limitations, with an overall view of recovery potential
- An asset register giving owner, location, value range, charges, evidence grade and recoverability tier for every asset
- A network chart of entities, directors, shareholdings, intellectual property and asset flows
- A field annex of geo-tagged, time-stamped photographs and site notes held under chain of custody
- Enforcement levers for counsel, such as garnishee targets, disclosure applications and points for examining the judgment debtor
The law and frameworks this work is aligned to
- Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 Order XXI on the execution of decrees
- Supreme Court directions in Rahul S. Shah v. Jinendra Kumar Gandhi (2021) on asset disclosure in execution, and in Periyammal v. Rajamani (March 2025) that execution petitions be decided within six months
- Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 ss.43 to 50 on avoidance transactions
- Companies Act, 2013 register of charges and the CERSAI central registry
- DPDP Act, 2023: lawful public records and lawful observation only, with no pretexting
References show the standard the work is built to. They do not imply accreditation or endorsement by the bodies that publish them.
This is a summary of the service. For a deeper understanding of how it would work for your organisation, please reach out to us.
Talk to a BDI partnerWhere this service meets BDI's technology.
The platforms below record, monitor or act on the work this service produces.
Questions clients ask before we start.
Can you find bank balances?
We can identify the banks a debtor deals with and its primary operating accounts from lawful sources. Balances are confidential and are obtained through the court's disclosure and attachment process, which our findings support.
What does a recoverability tier mean?
Each asset is placed in one of four tiers: readily attachable, such as bank balances, receivables and stock; attachable with process, such as property, movables and investments; needing further legal action, such as assets moved to related parties; and not practically recoverable, such as encumbered, dissipated or offshore assets. Counsel can then decide where to act first.
Can you reach assets held by group companies or promoters?
We identify and evidence them. Whether a group company's or a promoter's assets can be reached is a legal question for counsel, and our findings are organised so that counsel can answer it.