NEPC, Pentafour top willful defaulters list

Banks and institutions which affected most due to the non-payment of loans are State Bank of India (SBI) (Rs 139.93), State Bank of Travancore (SBT) (Rs 122.90), IFCI (Rs 250.68 crore), Union Bank of India (Rs 76.97 crore), HSBC (Rs 46 crore) and ING Bank NV (Rs 40.52 crore).

As per the list, NEPC India Ltd, the aviation company promoted by the Chennai-based Khemkas defaulted in repayment of Rs 134.52 crore to IFCI, while promoter-cum-partner V Chandrasekharan of Pentafour Products Ltd borrowed Rs 32.88 crore from SBT and Rs 22.66 crore from IFCI and had defaulted in making the repayments, resulting in litigation of over Rs 55 crore.

Similarly, industrialist Mukesh Gupta had borrowed Rs 45.84 crore from SBT in the name of Lloyds Steel India Ltd and another Rs 9.86 crore from the same bank in the name of Lloyds Finance. In both the cases, he failed to clear his dues in time.

In one case, a promoter, Atul Gulati from Delhi borrowed Rs 8.41 crore from Societe Generale and Rs 5.68 crore from Standard Chartered Bank in the name of one firm called Atul Glass Industries Limited. Similarly, Anand Arya from Mumbai borrowed twice – Rs 22.54 crore and Rs 12.25 crore – from the same institution, Oman International Bank, for two separate companies, Blue Blends (India) Limited and Premier Synthetics Limited, promoted by him. Leading corporates whose names appeared among others, in the list of defaults, are Baroda Rayon Corporation (Rs 4 crore), Lohia Polyester Limited (Rs 4.17 crore), Thapar Agro Mills Limited (Rs 4.36 crore), IFB Industries Limited (Rs 4.4 crore), Welspun India Limited (Rs 9.45 crore) and Mantri Housing and Construction (Rs 5 crore).

The industrial sickness did not spare the new private banks and foreign banks who were hit badly even with single borrower account. For instance, HDFC Bank Limited filed suit against Nailore(AP)-based Balaji Industrial Corporation Limited for defaulting in repayment for a sum of Rs 22.43 crore.

While HSBC, ING Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Oman International Bank were among the top foreign banks who incurred losses amounting to Rs 46.01 crore, Rs 40.52 crore, Rs 32.23 crore, Rs 34.79 crore respectively due to non-payment of funds by the borrowers.

Among public sector banks, SBI, SBT and Union Bank of India topped the list by posting bad loans of Rs 139.93 crore, Rs 122.9 crore and Rs 76.97 crore in their exposure to the corporate sector as on March-end, 2000. The other public sector banks which have the outstanding balances against their borrowers are Bank of Baroda (Rs 18.81 crore), State Bank of Hyderabad (Rs 11.65 crore) and Canara Bank (Rs 17.34 crore).

The gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of banking industry soared to Rs 60,841 crore as on March 31, 2000 as compared to Rs 58,722 crore in the previous fiscal, a whopping jump of Rs 2,119 crore. The Reserve Bank of India’s Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India for 1999-2000′ says gross NPAs of public sector banks alone have increased from Rs 51,710 crore in 1998-99 to Rs 53,294 crore in 1999-2000, while net NPAs increased to Rs 26,188 crore from Rs 24,211 crore in 1998-99.

NPAs of ten leading institutions (including IDBI, ICICI and IFCI) have reported a rise of 11.89 per cent, or Rs 1,929 crore, to Rs 18,146 crore during the year ended March 2000 from Rs 16,217 crore last year.