Thursday, August 21, 2014

The secret world of the loan broker


 The secret world of the loan broker
Photo: Hemant Padalkar/Hindustan Times
 Anup Roy |  Khushboo Narayan Live Mint FRI, AUG 15 2014. 12 37 AM IST
Brokers rarely find themselves in the limelight, except incidents like arrest of Syndicate Bank chairman S.K. Jain in an alleged bribery case

Mumbai:
 He smiles a lot with the practised ease of a man who has learnt to do so as if he means it.
He carries a leather-bound planner in his hand.
And he is there wherever bankers are—media briefings to announce results, analyst meetings, award ceremonies, and conferences.
After most events, he can be seen mingling with the bankers, most of whom seem to be very friendly with him. Sometimes, he even leaves with them.
This man, who will remain unnamed, is one of the most powerful brokers or intermediaries in the Indian banking system. His success rate—or the proportion of the number of loans he has facilitated to that he sought to facilitate—is close to 100%, he claims.
The man, and other brokers like him, find themselves where they rarely like to be—in the limelight—after the arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of Syndicate Bank chairman S.K. Jain for allegedly accepting a bribe to increase the credit limit of some borrowers. Among the others arrested is a certain Pawan Bansal, who ran an investment bank, Altius Finserv—a firm to help corporates raise money—and allegedly brokered transactions between banks and borrowers.
Earlier, in 2010, CBI arrested several bank executives, and also representatives of Money Matters Financial Services Ltd, a company that served as an intermediary between banks and borrowers, in a loans-for-bribes case.
But no bank chairman was arrested yet, and the non-performing assets on the books of Indian banks were not considered as a big a problem then as they have become now. As of 30 March, the gross non-performing assets (or bad loans) on the books of 40 listed banks stood at Rs.2.42 trillion, up 34.41% from a year ago.
On 7 June, DNA newspaper reported that CBI had expanded the scope of its investigation into bad loans on the books of banks. Last week, the federal investigative agency also started looking into a loan extended by IDBI Bank Ltd to the grounded Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, well after the company had run into debt-trouble with other banks.
Which is why the man mentioned in the first instance suddenly finds his brethren in the news.
The man, who brought along a friend and fellow intermediary—let’s call them Broker 1 and Broker 2—for a meeting with Mint, said he finally decided to talk because bankers want too much now.
“In my 20 years of business, I have never seen such greed among bankers. Everyone takes kickbacks, that’s part of the process. But in the last few years, the greed has touched the sky. It is very difficult to do business in this environment.”
“I want this greed to end,” he added.
Of course, there are brokers
Broker 1 would rather not be called a broker. He used to prefer financial intermediary, but is now more of a strategic advisor or consultant. He added that he no longer works for a fee; now, his take is a stake in the project itself.
“My primary responsibility is to secure finances for the projects and fixing other appointments, like meeting top architects for real estate projects, because I am acting as a partner,” he said. “That’s how all consultants, if they are industrious, eventually diversify.”
Everyone seems to know of the existence of brokers who can facilitate loans. There is a role for middlemen in most transactions, and it isn’t illegal to be one.
“Brokers are a necessity. All banks have a specific format to apply for loans. If you don’t file the proposal in that format, the proposal gets rejected immediately. We are specialists,” said Broker 1.
“As far as middlemen are concerned, there are some good middlemen and some not-so-good middlemen. A good middleman acts as a broker. But if the point of a middleman is to pay bribes, that is obviously not okay,” saidRaghuram Rajan, governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on 6 August in a post-policy interaction with select print media at RBI headquarters. He was answering Mint’s query on RBI’s view on the role of middlemen (mintne.ws/1kn7hHq).
“As of now, there is no law prohibiting the practice of engaging a middleman for getting loans approved, hence there is no question of illegality,” added H.P. Ranina, a Supreme Court advocate and a corporate lawyer.
Problems arise when, as Rajan points out, the middleman is there to pay bribes.
And Broker 1 doesn’t try to hide this aspect of his role.
“To reach bank chairmen, you will have to come to us.”
“We know what the bank wants and what the banker wants.”
And that’s the malaise that the government and investigative agencies are trying to tackle.
“It’s part of the whole set of governance issues that we need to look at,” said Rajan at the interaction.
Indeed, “the government should introduce a law prohibiting this practice”, added Ranina.

What the broker said

Brokers have connections in most large banks who act as “champions of the proposal”, said Broker 1. The champion can be the chairman, executive directors or general managers, even regional managers who are close to the chairman.
“He (the champion) pushes for the loan and gets it sanctioned.”
Apart from financial and other inducements, this also helps fast-track a champion’s own career. Loans are business and anyone who brings business to the bank gets rewarded. Eventually, he may become an executive director, even chairman.
“Brokers have known chairmen since they were nobodies,” Broker 1 said.
Once the proposal is sent in, the bank’s chairman will comment on it.
Chairmen rarely write notes on the proposal file like they used to, according to Broker 1. “No one wants to leave a trail.”
Instead, they use post-it notes and there are all sorts of codes, he explained.
For instance, a post-it note on the right side may mean a general manager (who is also part of the chain) discussing the proposal at an approval committee meeting speaks of it glowingly.
A note on the left side may mean he disses it.
Or, a note written in capital letters may mean the proposal is to be accepted.
“The chairman will never say anything,” said Broker 1.
Brokers love committees.
“If the committee passes the proposal, nobody is accountable,” said Broker 1.
And sometimes, all it takes is to induce some members of the committee to just keep quiet.
An official at the enforcement directorate, who is keeping a close watch on the latest development on the banker-brokers nexus, says the problem is of corruption in the system at large.
“The main problem here (India) is corruption. And corruption is a cultural issue. Such incidents will keep happening till the government gets rid of the nazrana (tribute to be paid to the person in power), jabrana (extortion) and shukrana(money paid by way of gratitude after the work is done) syndrome,” said this person, who asked not to be identified.
Broker 1 accepts that corruption often starts at the top. With all the scrutiny by vigilance and law enforcement agencies, and no political backing, lower-level managers are usually scared of taking bribes, but they comply with senior officials who tell them to do so.
Then there are other benefits for the junior officers too.
“We oblige them (the lower-rank officials) by fast-tracking promotions and transfer them wherever they want to go. When and if they become seniors, they remember us. That’s prepaid,” said Broker 1.
Broker 1 pulls out his phone and proudly displays WhatsApp threads showing people whom he said were junior officers asking for a transfer and then sending thank you notes.
“There are three modes of payment. Prepaid, post-paid and value-added. Prepaid is the banker’s past obligation to me, he is returning (to) me a past favour. Post-paid is obligation by us after the job is done, usually money or other favours. Value-added is whatever the banker fancies. Different people have different likings. Not all people want cash,” he said.
The preferred mode of payment is property (or real estate), said Broker 1.
And brokers facilitate any business with banks, not just loans. Broker 1 says that even advertising agencies sometimes approach him to be empanelled with the bank (which means it is one of the few agencies used by the bank).
The problem with banks
Bank chairmen aren’t appointed on merit, definitely not paid enough, and the appointment process sees a lot of political interference, Mint’s Tamal Bandyopadhyay wrote in a two-part column on 4 August and 14 August.
“You need to ask this question—how did S.K. Jain, who was 18th in rank of seniority among 20 people (in Syndicate Bank), become chairman of the bank. You need to ask how he moved from the small Dena Bank, to executive director of Bank of Baroda, the second largest state-owned bank,” said the former chairman of a state-owned bank, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
According to an Indian Express report dated 13 August, CBI has advised the finance ministry that the 2013 appointment of Jain “lacked transparency and smacks of unfair practices”.
A second former bank chairman, who asked not to be identified, said the blame lay with the government’s recruitment, appointment and compensation policies.
With the best retail talent going to private banks (or other businesses altogether), banks started focusing on large borrowers to meet their credit growth targets. These were usually in excess of 20%, the second former bank chairman said.
“The problem was most felt in semi-urban branches. With retail base gone, it was a nightmare for the branch managers to meet targets.”
Soon, brokers stepped in.
“Middlemen stepped in and started approaching banks with high-value proposals. The magic figures of targets started getting met year after year but there was no real training of people to truly appraise loans thoroughly,” added the second former bank chairman.
Given that the finance ministry effectively decides on their appointment, most chairmen of state-owned banks are acutely conscious of the need to keep their political masters happy.
Ministry officials and even other ministers often request loans for people they know, said the second former bank chairman.
“Such requests are like orders, to be acted on in five minutes and reported back in ten minutes.”
The chairmen push the requests down the line as orders.
But they don’t always have their way.
“There are a lot of people who revolt. They may not get promoted further, but there are executive directors and general managers I know who spoiled the game for corrupt chairmen and saved the bank. Sadly, most of them retire in their post,” the second former bank chairman said.
Apart from being political appointments, bank chairmen are also paid a pittance.
Their pay is pathetic, Bandyopadhyay said in a Mint column on 4 August (mintne.ws/1xVtLA1).
“Take a look at the chief of State Bank of India who handles a balance sheet ofRs.22 trillion. And compare it with the chief of any private sector bank who oversees a balance sheet which is one-fifth of the size of State Bank or even smaller,” he wrote. “Yes indeed, the State Bank chief lives in a big bungalow in Mumbai’s posh Malabar Hills but that doesn’t add to the salary. To start with, if the government decides to monetize all benefits that a public sector bank chief earns, their salary will be many times more.”
Did brokers cause bad loans?
To what extent are the middlemen responsible for getting bad loans sanctioned?
“Believe it or not, a good broker does much more due diligence than a bank. We have to know what we are hawking. As an intermediary, if I bring a loan that turns bad, I will have to shut shop,” said Broker 1.
However, he acknowledges that bad loans do get pushed on to banks for a hefty fee of as much as 8% of the loan amount.
This is how a bad loan is structured: if a borrower wants a Rs.20 crore loan for aRs.30 crore project from a bank, he has to usually put in Rs.10 crore as equity. Not everyone has that kind of money. Consider a promoter who has property of Rs.3 crore to pledge and raise equity.
“You come to a broker, we take you to an empanelled valuer. He values the property at, say, Rs.7-8 crore. We then go to the banker for loan. The banker will give you ideas to adjust the valuation to Rs.10 crore and based on that a Rs.20 crore loan will be sanctioned,” said Broker 1.
If the borrower wants more money, the broker takes him to another bank where this Rs.20 crore in his account is shown as equity and another Rs.40 crore is raised.
“So with a Rs.3 crore equity, you have a leverage of 20 times. You may or may not go belly-up after that. If you do, the original value of the property is found to be only Rs.3 crore,” said Broker 1.
That may be true for small loans but, as Pratip Chaudhuri, former chairman of State Bank of India (SBI), explains, for all large projects, lending is done on the basis of the company’s balance sheet. Chaudhuri added that at SBI, loans were given on the basis of ratings from external agencies like Moody’s Investors Service and Standard and Poor’s.
“There is no middlemen involved in loan process, but we have a rule that if a person, who is not part of the company, is accompanying the borrower, the borrower will have to give it in writing that the person is helping them with the loan proposal form,” Chaudhuri added.
The enforcement directorate official quoted earlier agreed that most large loans are given on the basis of the balance sheet, but added that the financials were not always reliable.
“The borrowers often cook up their balance sheet and then pay bribes to bank officials to overlook the manipulation in the balance sheet to sanction a loan,” said the official.
And sometimes even that isn’t necessary, as the cases of Kingfisher Airlinesand Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd show. Big borrowers have enough clout of their own, or enough political contacts, to influence banks.





Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Syndicate Bank scam :Banks ask Bhushan to sell & lease back critical assets











Manojit Saha  |  Mumbai   
A day after effectively taking charge of Bhushan Steel, lendershave delivered another punch. The bankers’ consortium, which met in New Delhi on Monday, has asked the troubled steel maker to sell and lease back some of its critical assets to reduce debt, as the borrower is finding it difficult to raise equity from the market.

This is part of the road map drawn by SBI Caps, the merchant banking arm of State Bank of India (SBI), for recovery of around Rs 40,000 crore that Bhushan Steel has borrowed from 35 lenders.

According to the plan, the steel company has been asked to deleverage by repaying debt. However, given the company’s present problems that led to a slide in its share price, raising equity through a qualified institutional placement was not a viable proposition at this point, a banker who attended Monday’s meeting told Business Standard.
THE STORY SO FAR
AUGUST 2
CBI arrests Syndicate Bank’s chief, S K Jain, over graft charges
AUGUST 7
CBI arrests Bhushan Steel Vice-Chairman & Managing Director Neeraj Singal for allegedly bribing Jain
AUGUST 8
SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya says an external agency will be appointed to monitor day-to-day operations of Bhushan Steel.
AUGUST 18
Lenders decide to go for forensic audit; say they will nominate three members on the company’s board

The share price of Bhushan Steel has fallen 62 per cent since August 5. The shares closed at Rs 144.90 apiece on Tuesday.

Bankers said four assets, including a coke oven plant, had been identified by the steel company. It is not immediately known how much debt will be reduced through the sale and lease-back.

According to bankers, there is no dearth of buyers for the company’s facilities and SBI Caps is in the process of identifying prospective bidders, which might include global steel producers.

have tightened their grip on the firm since its vice-chairman & managing director, Neeraj Singal, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on August 7 for allegedly bribing SK Jain, the now-suspended chairman & managing director of Syndicate Bank.

Bankers said the forensic audit, as decided by the consortium on Monday, would be done by an external agency and would seek to find out if the firm diverted the borrowed funds or used those for purposes other than those for which the loans were given.

It would also find out whether there was creation of genuine assets.

These steps were taken even as the loans continue to be standard on the books of banks and have not become non-performing. However, following the liquidity problem that Bhushan Steel, one of the most indebted steel makers of the country, is facing, the loan is now categorised as special mention account 2 that is overdue in 60 days.

A concurrent auditor will also be appointed to monitor cash flows on a daily basis and an independent engineer will look at the operations of the company.

“Given the magnitude of the exposure and the number of lenders involved, banks will take a huge hit if the loan turns bad,” said a senior executive of a public-sector bank.

DRT II Chennai :Judge Challenges Finance Ministry"s DRT Hire


Indian Express :Gokul Vannan :20 Aug 14
MADURAI: A division bench of the Madras High Court would on Thursday resume hearing on a petition filed by a lower court judge challenging a decision of the Union Finance Ministry not to appoint him as presiding officer of the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT –II) in Chennai despite his name being cleared by the Selection Committee.
The petitioner, V Sivasubramanian, who is presently the Third Additional District Judge in Coimbatore, had submitted that in October 2013 a Selection Committee headed by then Supreme Court judge Justice R M Lodha (now Chief Justice of India), had interviewed him for the post of presiding officer of DRT.
 The vacancies for the post were to arise at the DRTs in Ahmadabad, Coimbatore, Chennai, Ernakulam and Mumbai in March 2014.
On November 26 last year, he was intimated by the Union Finance Ministry that the Selection Committee had recommended his name for posting as presiding officer at the DRT-II in Chennai. 
The Madras High Court Registrar General had also obtained his willingness to take up the post and submitted the same to the Finance Ministry.
The Registrar General further said that on receipt of the appointment order Sivasubramanian would be relived from his additional district judgeship to facilitate him to take charge as head of the DRT-II, Chennai.
However, subsequently, he did not receive the appointment letter while other selected candidates had assumed charge in April this year. Later, he learnt that R Ravindra Bose, Additional District Judge –III in Tiruvallur was appointed to the post in May.
Challenging this, Sivasubramanian moved the High Court.
He also sought an interim order restraining Ravindra Bose from functioning as the presiding officer of DRT-II.
When the matter came up for hearing, the Finance Ministry submitted that though the Selection Committee had chosen Sivasubramanian for the post the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) had not approved the same.
Sivasubramanian contended that as per Debts Recovery Rules, 1998, the approval of the ACC is not mandatory.
 Hence the ACC has no authority to veto his selection.
 He added that he had not received the ACC’s order rejecting his selection.

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Conflicting Judgments on Property Registration Order

There are two conflicting judgments, one passed by a single judge of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, also upheld by a division bench, and the other by a single judge of the Principal Seat at Chennai.
While the single judge and division bench of the Madurai bench upheld the circular in March and June this year, Justice S Vaidyanathan of the Principal Seat on Saturday set aside the circular. The Madurai bench passed orders without going into the merits as to the validity of the circular, i.e. the power of the Inspector General in issuing the circular in conformity with the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Registration Act. “Therefore, it is appropriate to adjudicate the issue on merits,’’ Justice Vaidyanathan reasoned and quashed the circular.
Justice Vaidyanathan placed on record his appreciation towards the steps taken by the Inspector General of Registration in issuing the circular to prevent the fraudulent registration of documents by the illegal power agents.
 “The object of the circular is really laudable and praiseworthy, but in the absence of any legal sanctity attached to it, this court is unable stretch upon its hands to protect the same.  However, it is needless to mention that the Inspector General of Registration is empowered to make rule by virtue of Section 69(2) of the Act and enact the same after getting approval from the State Government and on its publication,” the judge said. While doing so, the IG shall consider the circumstances under which the production of ‘life certificate’ itself does not arise. Till such time the Rule is framed, the registering authority shall act as per the provisions of the Act,” he added.

NPAs by top defaulters like Kingfisher under deep scanner

NPAs


















Domain B 16 Aug 2014

The top 50 cases of non-performing assets (NPAs) in the banking sector are being closely monitored by both the finance ministry and the banks that have suffered the defaults from the corporate houses like Kingfisher Airlines -

According to a DNA report today, the finance ministry has indicated that in case of evidence of fraud, criminal action will be initiated against such debtors.

Earlier, the union finance ministry had ordered the Enforcement Directorate to monitor the affairs of the failed Kingfisher Airlines, after an audit in the State Bank of India, which has major exposure to Kingfisher, found it 'highly positive' on fund diversion (See: ED to probe failed Kingfisher Airlines over diversion of loans).

Based on the findings of SBI's forensic audit indicating on default in a Rs7,000 crore loan from a consortium of banks led by SBI, the finance ministry says that the company has diverted parts of the loan.


The audit report conducted by external agency E&Y has observed that chances of the airlines having siphoned off the loans for purposes other than the sanctioned use are 'highly positive'.
The finance ministry feels a Rs336 crore loan sanctioned by Union Bank of India (UBI) was withdrawn and deposited in another account with a private bank by Kingfisher, which is against the rules.

The audit report of the state-owned SBI, the country's largest lender, was submitted to the finance ministry two days back.

Kingfisher Airlines tops the list of bad debts in the banking sector, which in total has swelled to Rs2 lakh crore in the last five years.

This particular loan from UBI is not the part of the Rs7,000 crore loan given by the SBI-led consortium to the airline; but the audit report says part of this  loan has also been diverted.
A finance ministry official said, "In a similar fashion, the loans and advances taken from the banks in the SBI consortium has also been diverted, according to the findings of the report. The ministry is closely examining the report and we have already asked SBI to act fast on the NPA issue."

Some of the lending banks to liquor baron Vijay Mallya's failed airline venture such as SBI, IDBI Bank, and United Bank of India are set to declare Kingfisher Airlines as a wilful defaulter. Now the UBI can also take action on the diversion of funds.

"The matters are sub-judice and we cannot comment. We have no communication or knowledge about the alleged diversion of funds, which we stoutly deny," a UB spokesman told DNA.

With bad loans spiralling along with the accumulated interest, the government is now tightening the screws on defaulting companies. "The government has initiated meetings with the banks on the top 50 non-performing assets (NPAs). These will be reviewed at regular intervals as to date we have not got any desired results. ED level monitoring of such accounts by the banks has been ordered by the ministry," said an official.

Armed with the forensic audit report, the SBI is likely to approach the CBI to look into matters pertaining to wilful default and siphoning of funds. CBI has already registered cases against other big defaulters like Rajat Pharma, Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd, Century Communications, HTCL Ltd, and Zoom developers Pvt Ltd for 30 alleged wilful defaults.
In all 27 cases against nine companies have been registered. The investigative agency had approached SBI earlier seeking documents on the Kingfisher NPA. The bank had then denied saying it had no grounds to hand over the case then. It was after the CBI intervention that the forensic audit was ordered by the SBI.

In Kingfisher's case, to recover even a good percentage of the Rs7,000 crore is a long shot. The company has few assets since the aircraft it had were all leased and belongs to foreign companies which are trying to get them back. But the aircraft cannot be taken out of India due to cases against the company. Some buildings of the company have been seized and will be auctioned.


IDBI Bank to declare Kingfisher Airlines 'wilful defaulter'

IDBI Bank to declare Kingfisher Airlines wilful defaulter ‘very, very soon’


T E Narasimhan  |  Chennai  
 Last Updated at 23:02 IST

Public-sector lender IDBI Bank has said it is planning to announce liquor baron Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines as a wilful defaulter.

The bank, which has a Rs 750-crore exposure to the grounded airline, also clarified it had not been questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation, though the agency had sought some information from it.

IDBI Bank is the second bank that could list Kingfisher Airlines as a wilful defaulter. Kolkata-based United Bank of India has served a notice on the airline asking why it should not be named a wilful defaulter. Kingfisher Airlines has moved court against the notice. State-owned United Bank of India has a Rs 400-crore exposure to the airline.

The Reserve Bank of India defines wilful default as a situation where an entity does not pay lenders even though it has the capacity to do so, or when it does not use funds for the purpose a loan was given. If a borrower uses short-term working capital for long-term purposes, not in conformity with the terms of a loan, or deploys the funds for creation of assets other than those for which the loan was sanctioned, it is construed as diversion of funds.

IDBI Bank Chairman & Managing Director M S Raghavan said the bankers' consortium was taking steps against Kingfisher Airlines. "We will declare (Kingfisher Airlines as a wilful defaulter) very, very soon. We have already taken it (the proposal) to the (bank's) board," he said and clarified IDBI Bank's exposure to the airline was Rs 750 crore, and not Rs 950 crore as reported in media reports.

IDBI Bank was the first bank to declare Kingfisher Airlines' default and it went to court to recall its loan. The bank is now taking the next step to recover its dues.

State Bank of India leads a consortium of 17 banks that had a total exposure of Rs 6,500 crore to the airline. After banks started their recovery process last year, the total dues are now about Rs 4,000 crore, according to finance ministry data.

In 2009, IDBI Bank sanctioned a loan of Rs 200 crore to Kingfisher Airlines. Subsequently, State Bank of India came out with an assessment saying the gap in the airline's working capital was around Rs 2,000 crore and many banks were approached, including IDBI Bank, which was asked to lend over Rs 1,000 crore.

"But we sanctioned only Rs 750 crore and of this Rs 250 crore was sub-tuned with the earlier sanctioned amount," Raghavan said.

Responding to recent media reports that claimed had questioned IDBI Bank in the Kingfisher Airlines case, Raghavan said the agency wanted to see whether funds were diverted by the airline. If there is diversion it will show up in the airline's bank accounts, so all lenders were asked to provide information. IDBI Bank provided the information and CBI wanted more data, which was provided last Monday.

On the course of action against the airline, Raghavan said RBI Governor Raghuraman Rajan had recently stressed on tigthening the bankruptcy law. "So, we can declare the company insolvent. I am not suggesting this is what we will do. We have an option and the bank can go to any extent," he added.

The bank also said it was looking at mobilising funds through various modes, including selling its stake, partially or fully, in the National Stock Exchange, rating agency CARE and others. "As promoters, we have good stakes in most of these organisations. In NSE and CARE alone, if we divest now, we can easily mobilise Rs 1,000-1,200 crore," said Raghavan.

Raghavan said the bank would need around Rs 6,000 crore of capital over the next two years. It had set a target of around 20 per cent growth annually and about Rs 6,000 crore of capital, besides another Rs 4,000 crore of Tier-I capital, would be required to support that. "We have approached the government for capital infusion, this is the first choice. My assumption is we will get at least Rs 1,000 crore from the government." At present, the central government holds a 76.5 per cent in IDBI Bank. "We have written to the government to lower its stake to 58 per cent or 51 per cent," said Raghavan, adding around Rs 4,500 crore could be mobilised if the stake was brought down to 58 per cent, and Rs 5,500 crore if it came down to 51 per cent.