Willful defaulters face ban on loans

TNN : TOI :20 Oct 2012

NEW DELHI: The government is asking banks and financial institutions to prevent willful defaulters from floating new ventures for at least six years by choking the flow of funds, especially long-term capital. 

Even auditors of these companies, who are seen to be negligent, could face action with the finance ministry suggesting that lenders lodge complaints with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the regulator for the profession. 

The suggestions come at a time when there has been spurt in bad debt of banks with gross NPAsas a percentage of loans rising to 3.5% at the end of June 2012 from 2.6% a year ago. During this period, private sector players, both new and old generation banks, had witnessed a decline in the proportion of gross NPAs. 

Within the public sector fraternity, which accounts for around 70% of the total banking business, Bank of Maharashtra and Dena Bank witnessed a decline in NPAs, but at least five lenders — Central Bank of India, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of India, Union Bank of India and IDBI Bank — saw an increase of at least one percentage point. For SBI, gross NPAs accounted for over 5% of the loans given by it. Apart from action against willful defaulters, the government has also suggested better monitoring and more stringent recovery.

As NPAs rise, stress on bank assets to stay for 12 months

B S :Neelasri Barman / Mumbai Oct 12, 2012, 00:03 IST

NPA percentage in loans may touch 10% by March 2013, up from 5% in March 2011

The non-performing assets (NPAs) of banks are set to rise. According to a report released by Standard & Poor’s (S&P) yesterday, the percentage of NPAs in total loans is likely to touch 10 per cent by March 2013, a huge jump from five per cent in March 2011.

“We expect NPAs for the banking industry to exceed Rs 5.8 lakh crore by March 31,” said S&P. Due to slow economic growth, banks are yet to see recovery on their assets quality. According to bankers, the NPA cycle will peak due to factors such as drop in the productivity of Indian companies, larger proportion of long-term loans, exposure to sectors which are cyclical in nature and aggressive lending to the agriculture sector.

“Economy has not improved and investments are not picking up. Also, interest rates have not come down to expected levels. Due to these factors, there will not be a significant drop in the current NPA levels. The stress on assets will continue for some more time to come,” said a senior official of a large public sector bank.

SECTORS THAT HAVE BEEN AFFECTED

Power Hotels Electrical products Textiles Building equipment

The stress on assets is expected to continue at least for the next 12 months. “The economy has bottomed out and NPAs will peak out in the next 12-18 months,” said a banker with a private sector bank. He pointed out that the economy has slowed and borrowers are not able to generate enough cash flows to repay the loans.

According to a Fitch Ratings report released on Monday, Indian banks will face sustained asset quality weakness over the next few quarters, although most banks have a reasonable buffer to withstand increased stress. Fitch expects the banking system’s gross NPA ratio to reach 4.2 per cent by March 2013, up from its earlier estimate of 3.75 per cent.

Emkay Global Financial Services expects gross NPAs growth to average around 40 per cent in the next two years, compared to the 30 per cent seen during FY09-FY12. “Effectively, we do not rule out gross NPA ratio rising from the 3.1 per cent in FY12 to 4-6.5 per cent in the next 12-24 months,” Dhananjay Sinha and Kashyap Jhaveri of Emkay Global Financial Services said in a report last month.

According to Sinha and Jhaveri, sustenance of high commodity prices, further weakening in fiscal conditions and extension of regulatory concession will stretch the NPA cycle, while tighter regulatory framework, correction in global commodity prices and aggressive fiscal consolidation will shorten the cycle.

However, the impact of economic slowdown is not witnessed in consumer loans, due to which even banks are in the process of growing their retail portfolios. “Banks’ consumer loans continue to perform well because a slowdown in economic growth hasn’t lowered India’s employment rate yet. Wages are also still rising, although inflation remains high,” said S&P.
Data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) earlier this month showed that NPAs in the banking system were the highest in the past five years. Net NPAs rose sharply to 1.28 per cent in 2011-12 from 0.97 per cent a year ago.

However, there are a few bankers who are of the view that the incremental NPAs will be lower. “I am not saying that NPAs will come down. But the incremental NPA formation in the quarters going forward will be lesser than the June quarter for our bank,” said RK Bansal, executive director, IDBI Bank.

Is publishing photos of home loan defaulters correct?

Moneylife :VINOD KOTHARI | 15/10/2012 06:54 PM |


Some lenders are publishing photos of home loan defaulters, that too when the home is mortgaged with them and the borrower is reported to credit bureaus which ensures that he or she would not get funding from any legal sources

Several banks are publishing photos of borrowers who have defaulted. Every day there are advertisements by banks to dispose off properties of people who have taken a loan and could not repay in time. While banks have been publishing photos of corporate borrowers, who had defaulted, several lenders have now started publishing photos of home loan defaulters as well. There is a difference between a borrower who had taken loan for buying a home and other borrowers who got a loan for business purpose.

The question is—is it morally right on the part of the banks to publish photos of home loan defaulters. The recovery is being undertaken under Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002, (SARFAESI Act). This Act was enacted presumably on the lines of the Article 9 of US Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). The Act is, actually, nowhere even close to that Code. In fact, UCC deals with personal property and not real estate, and therefore, home loans are not at all covered by US UCC Article 9. The Act was recommended before the Parliament as one which would help reduce the burden of bank NPAs (non-performing assets). The picture one got was those so-called ‘wilful’ defaulters who habitually over-borrow from banks, siphon off the money, possibly even before the loan repayment starts, and enjoy life at the cost of banks. In other words, the objective was to be stern against promoters of companies that go sick while promoters enjoy the pink of their own health. Little did the parliamentarians who passed the law realise that the law will be used, as it is being done, vehemently to drag home loan borrowers out of their homes. 
 
No one contends that a borrower should be allowed to go scot free after having borrowed money from a bank or housing finance company, even if it was purchase of a residential house. But is a default of a home loan a case of wilful default that was in the minds of the lawmakers when the SARFAESI Act was enacted? Is it difficult to envisage that there may be zillion reasons for which a borrower may be forced to default on loan EMIs (equated monthly instalments)? Once again, financial discipline is important, and it is a settled fact that home borrowers who are unable to pay their EMIs have to suffer foreclosure at some stage. There are hundreds of thousands of such homes under foreclosure action in the US today, and therefore, no one should shed tears if borrowers have to face a mortgage foreclosure on account of default of a home loan.

But then, the SARFAESI Act puts a non-judicial route to mortgage foreclosures. The way the section is worded, a home borrower will first have to lose the roof over his head before he can run to his lawyer to take an action in a DRT (debt recovery tribunal). One just needs to take a practical stock of the situation—a person having a salary income of Rs30,000 per month takes a loan that has an EMI of Rs10,000 per month. The ratio works perfectly fine since a debt to income ratio of 33% is one of the best a lender can expect. Also, given that a household can easily manage living costs within a range of Rs10-Rs15k per month, there is sufficient scope for the individual to pay his home loan without default. Now, say, he loses his job. It obviously will take a few months before he can get a replacement job, particularly in a market as the present one. So, three EMIs missing, and the bank classifies the loan as a NPA. The bank sends a loan recall notice, demanding not just three EMIs, but the whole of the loan. And in the meantime, the bank starts adding penal interest, which is much higher than the loan interest rate.
The issue is, where does the individual, out of job and facing his own worries in life trying to find a new job, get the money from, to pay the bank? Not just the EMIs, but the lethal penal interest rate too. So, as would always happen—debt begets debt. He would possibly run to a usurious lender, and borrow at excessive interests to pay the bank off, but sooner or later, will get into a default at both the places.

Here comes the bank with a SARFSAESI notice—pay off the entire loan, along with penal interest and all other charges within 60 days, or face repossession.

The tragedy is that the individual can run to no one for rescue. He would often run with a pleading face to the branch manager, but the manager would say—the matter is out of control now.

Now think of remedies available. Is it unlikely that the borrower may have questioned the very claim of the bank? Is it unlikely that the bank might have added wrongful costs or charges which the individual may be disputing? Thanks to the Supreme Court ruling in Mardia Chemicals, the law gives the borrower a right of representation, but the right of representation is a mere lip-service, as the representation goes to the very bank or bank manager with whom the borrower has an issue. The law does not even require the borrower’s grievance to be handled by a senior office which can examine the matter dispassionately. Invariably, if at all the borrower makes a representation the answer from the bank is going to be mechanical—turning down the representation with a stereotyped rebuttal of whatever the borrower might have said.

So, can the borrower approach his lawyer and seek a redressal? Unfortunately, as the law seems to say, the borrower must first allow the bank to take action (read, take away the borrower’s house) and go for redressal before a DRT. DRT action may stretch for months together. To add to the injury, the DRT may also pass an order for pre-deposit of a large part of the amount demanded by the bank before the application can proceed. The irony is—if the borrower had the money to pre-deposit, why would he let the loan default anyways? But law is merciless, regardless, and concern-less.

Banks are also publishing photos of corporate loan defaulters. Almost every day you would find ads with names and photos of small time firms, traders, owners of SMEs and so on.



Banks are adding insult to the injury by publishing the borrowers’ photographs in the newspapers. This is simply outrageous. The matter was discussed in a Madras High Court ruling where the high court affirmed of the practice, but the issue was mainly on the grounds of borrowers’ privacy rights, bank secrecy laws, and so on. Our courts have still not got rid of the mindset that when a borrower defaults, he is not necessarily defaulting because he is not wanting to pay, but because he is unable to pay. Also, over the decades of the way the banking system has worked, courts are simply unable to appreciate the miseries of the retail borrower failing to pay a consumer loan. Therefore, it is a little surprise that the Madras High Court judge said: “If borrowers could find newer and newer methods to avoid repayment of the loans, the banks are also entitled to invent novel methods to recover their dues.” This indicates that the publication of the photo of the borrower is also a recovery device, whereas, it was not pointed out before the court that the photo is published only after the recovery action has been taken.

Repossession action having been taken, the question is—why would a bank at all want to do a further damage to the borrower by publishing his photograph too? Surely enough, it is not the photo of an India’s most-wanted terrorist to caution the public. If the idea is to caution other lenders, that is taken care of by credit information bureaus like CIBIL or Experian as the financial system is anyway entitled to their database. In any case, other lenders don’t lend by looking at the photo of the borrower. One would understand if default of a loan was a criminal offence, but first, a loan default is a civil wrong and not a criminal wrong, second, no one could hold a person liable of having done a crime other than a criminal court, let alone a commercial bank, and third, even in criminal wrongs, for the most heinous crimes, courts do not go all out to publish photographs.

Irrespective of legality involved in such publication, what is happening currently is outright wrong. Our brethren who have fallen victims of bad times and are anyway deprived of the roof over their head are being further driven into ignominy by putting their photographs in the newspapers. This is so very cruel, so very inhuman, at least in case of residential mortgage loans. The Reserve Bank of India and the National Housing Bank should put an end to this practice immediately.

"சத்யம்' ராமலிங்க ராஜூவின் ரூ. 822 கோடி சொத்து முடக்கம்

• 

By dn, ஹைதராபாத்/புது தில்லி ;

 19 October 2012 12:13 AM IST

சத்யம் கம்ப்யூட்டர்ஸ் நிறுவன முன்னாள் தலைவர் பி. ராமலிங்க ராஜுவுக்குச் சொந்தமான ரூ. 822 கோடி சொத்துகளை அமலாக்கத்துறை முடக்கியுள்ளது.

நிதி நெருக்கடியில் சிக்கி திவாலாகும் நிலைக்கு சத்யம் கம்ப்யூட்டரைக் கொண்டு சென்றவர் ராமலிங்க ராஜு. பின்னர் இந்நிறுவனத்தை அரசு ஏற்று அதிலுள்ள முறைகேடுகள் ஆராயப்பட்டன.

பின்னர் அந்நிறுவனத்தை மஹிந்திரா நிறுவனம் கையகப்படுத்தி நடத்தி வருகிறது.

இந்நிறுவனத்தில் நிகழ்ந்த முறைகேடு தொடர்பாக அதன் முன்னாள் தலைவர் ராமலிங்க ராஜு மீது அன்னியச் செலாவணி மோசடி வழக்கு நடைபெற்று வருகிறது. ஆந்திர வங்கி, பாங்க் ஆப் பரோடா, ஐடிபிஐ மற்றும் ஐஎன்ஜி வைஸ்யா ஆகிய வங்கிகளில் இவருக்குள்ள கணக்குகள் முடக்கப்பட்டன.

 சத்யம் கம்ப்யூட்டர்ஸ் அண்ட் சர்வீசஸ் லிமிடெட் (எஸ்சிஎஸ்எல்) நிறுவனத்தின் சொத்துகளும் முடக்கப்பட்டன.

இந்நிறுவனத்தின் பங்குகளை வேண்டுமென்றே உயர்த்தி முறைகேடு செய்ததாக இவர் மீது வழக்குப் பதிவு செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளது. இதன் மூலம் ராஜுவும் அவரது குடும்ப உறுப்பினர்களும் முதலீட்டாளர்களுக்கு நிறுவனத்தின் நிதி நிலைமை குறித்துத் தவறான தகவல்களை அளித்து கொள்ளையடித்துள்ளதாக அமலாக்கப் பிரிவு தெரிவித்துள்ளது. 

இப்போது முடக்கப்பட்ட சொத்துகளின் பலன்களை ராஜுவோ அவரது குடும்ப உறுப்பினர்கள் எவரும் அனுபவிக்க முடியாது.

இது தொடர்பான வழக்கின் தீர்ப்புக்குப் பிறகே இத்தொகையை அவர்கள் பயன்படுத்த முடியும். இந்த வழக்கை சிபிஐ ஏற்கெனவே விசாரித்து வருகிறது. சிபிஐ அளித்த முதல் தகவல் அறிக்கையின் அடிப்படையில் அமலாக்கப் பிரிவு வழக்குப் பதிவு செய்துள்ளது. ஏற்கெனவே இந்த வழக்கு தொடர்பாக 354 சொத்துகளை அமலாக்கத் துறை முடக்கியுள்ளது. அவற்றின் மதிப்பு ரூ. 250 கோடியாகும்.

HC objects to goondaism to recover loans

 B L :PTI : Madurai :19 oct 2012

Madras High Court on Friday observed that finance firms giving loans for vehicle purchases should follow legal procedure for recovery of the dues and not resort to goondaism in seizing the vehicle.

“If a debtor fails to pay the monthly instalments for one or two months, there is a procedure. The firms should follow that procedure,” Justice N Kirubakaran said.

He was admitting a petition by one Kannan who submitted that he had taken Rs.20,000 loan from a finance firm here for purchasing a two-wheeler which had to be repaid in 24 instalments of Rs.1,224 each.

Due to “unforeseen” developments in his family, he could not pay the instalments for July and August 2012.

On August 23, when he was on way to his office, five persons (goondas), assaulted him and took away the vehicle.

He lodged a complaint with Police but they did not take any action. He had also petitioned the Police Commissioner.

However, no action was taken against the goondas who assaulted him, he submitted and prayed to the court to direct the police to take action against the finance firm and the goondas.

Petitioner’s counsel Pandian said if a borrower did not pay three instalments continuously, he should be informed and a case be filed in court, which alone could order for the seizure of the vehicle.

DGCA suspends Kingfisher’s flying licence

PTI:NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 19:2012

 

Aviation regulator DGCA today suspended the flying licence of the beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines for failing to come up with a viable plan for its financial and operational revival and resolve the impasse with its employees over payment of their salary dues.

The Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has suspended the Scheduled Operator Permit of Kingfisher Airlines till further orders, Civil Aviation Ministry officials said.

Suspension of the flying licence implies an immediate halt to all bookings on the entire Kingfisher network as well as through travel agents, the officials said.

The liquor baron Vijay Mallya-owned carrier has been saddled with a loss of Rs 8,000 crore and a debt burden of another over Rs 7,524 crore, a large part of which it has not serviced since January. The airline currently has only 10 operational aircraft compared to 66 a year ago.

Asked why the licence was suspended, the officials said the Government did not want a situation where the airline, which was on cash-and-carry mode for almost all service providers, re-starts operations and then keeps flying in fits and starts, as has been happening since the last year-end.

The airline, under a lockout since October 1 and resultant suspension of entire operations, had yesterday sought more time to respond to the DGCA’s showcause notice but did not give any timeline by which it would do so.

The DGCA had issued the show-cause notice on October 5 to the crisis-ridden carrier asking why its flying licence should not be suspended or cancelled as it was not adhering to its flight schedule and “abruptly cancelling its flights time and again during the last 10 months,” causing great inconvenience to the travelling public.

The aviation regulator had given the airline 15 days to respond, the deadline for which expired today

Single-name concentrations and infrastructure loans have weakened Indian banks' credit profile: Study

18 OCT, 2012, 10.35PM IST, PREETI KULKARNI,ET BUREAU 

MUMBAI: The credit profile of a few Indian banks has weakened due to high single-name concentrations and stress in infrastructure loans, a study conducted by India Ratings, a Fitch group company, has found. "By mid-2012, infrastructure loans at 14.5% had replaced residential mortgage and agriculture as the single largest sector exposure of Indian banks. Together with growing corporate exposure, the resulting single-name concentration in the Indian banking system is now significant enough to generate spikes in stressed assets," the report said. 

As corporate performance is affected by the weakening economic scenario, profitability and interest cover have only slightly improved since the days of the 2008 economic crisis. "A continued slowdown in demand means that corporate performance may continue to suffer till early-2013, putting further cyclical pressure on banks' asset quality," the study said. 

According to India Ratings, the resultant asset quality pressures are reflected in the rise in restructured loans, which, at an estimated 6% of loans by March 2013 (restructured in 2011 and 2012), is already 1.4 times the amount of restructured loans in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis. 

"Regulatory forbearance of restructured loans means that most of this pressure is not reflected in the reported credit cost. The government's ownership of some of the weak borrowers and viability of infrastructure projects in India help mitigate the ultimate loss expectations on some of these loans," it pointed out. 

However, the study has also found that Indian banks can 'absorb stressed credit costs through profits and general loan loss reserves, leaving common equity largely unimpaired'. "Only five out of the 22 banks studied show capital impairment above 10%, with the highest reduction under stress being 36% of existing common equity. The stressed common equity Tier 1 (CET 1) ratios of 20 banks remain above 6% and only one bank (government-owned) is below the regulatory minimum of 4.5%," it noted.

Deccan Chronicle debt recast plan off the table

BS Reporter / Mumbai Oct 20, 2012, 00:43 IST

The total exposure of the lenders to the company is about Rs 5000 cr

Ending months of uncertainty, the plan to restructure loans to Deccan Chronicle Holdings is off the table, as the leading lender to the group, ICICI Bank, has withdrawn the proposal.

Earlier, lenders to the company had considered restructuring the loans of about Rs 2,300 crore of the Hyderabad-based company. However, the plan failed to get the support of lenders. The total exposure of the lenders to the company is about Rs 5000 crore.

According to the terms and conditions governing the corporate debt restructuring process, at least three-fourths of the lenders have to agree on the restructuring programme.

The case was discussed by the lenders at two meetings. At the last meeting, the banks had postponed a decision, as several banks said they were awaiting a report on the forensic audit of Deccan Chronicle Holdings by Deloitte, expected by the end of this month. The audit was commissioned by Canara Bank.

A senior official at a private bank said he was not surprised loan-restructuring proposal was off the table, considering the complexities in the accounts of the company. A public sector bank associated with the debt restructuring proposal for Deccan Chronicle Holdings said, “If the audit establishes fraud in the company, it won’t be considered for CDR (corporate debt restructuring).”

Axis Bank had classified its loans to Deccan Chronicle Holdings as non-performing assets in the quarter ended September and has already made adequate provisions against the exposure.

SC on team’s termination from IPL

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the termination of the Hyderabad team by the Indian cricket board from the cash-rich IPL, paving the way for filling its slot by fresh auction on October 25. The apex court declined to interfere with yesterday’s Bombay High Court decision which had set aside the status quo order passed by an arbitrator on cessation of its membership in the league.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir dismissed the plea of Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited (DCHL), promoter of Deccan Chargers, to extend the time till October 25 for furnishing the bank guarantee of Rs 100 crore.

It accepted the submission of the BCCI that the termination of contract between the Deccan Chargers and the Board had come into effect from October 12, the day the High Court had held that the arbitrator had no jurisdiction to grant status quo and declined to grant extension of time for furnishing the bank guarantee.

BCCI clarifies on players’ dues

Meanwhile, BCCI on Friday clarified that all the dues to be paid to the players of Deccan Chargers, whose IPL contract has been terminated by the Board, for the last season had been met.

“The BCCI wishes to clarify that all players’ dues for the last season have been met in respect of players who represented Deccan Chargers in IPL 2012,” Secretary Sanjay Jagdale said in a release.

He said the termination of Deccan Chargers from the IPL stands after the Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay termination of the team by the Board.

“The Hon’ble Supreme Court has dismissed the SLP (special leave petition) filed by DCHL against the order of 18 October 2012 given by the Hon’ble Bombay High Court which set aside the status quo order of the Learned Arbitrator. Hence the termination of Deccan Chargers remains undisturbed,” he said.

A.Suganthi and anr V/S Karnataka Bank and 8 ors

M.A:697/2010

Record of proceedings on 16.10.2012 in IA No.1063/2012 (adv.hearing); 

 This IA is dismissed as infructous.

MA No.697/2010:  Ld. Counsel Shri Balasubramaniam appearing on behalf of the appellant files a memo stating that the matter has been settled and that this MA may be dismissed as settled of court. 

 This MA is dismissed as settled out of court.

IA No.372/2011 (stay):   MA is dismissed as settled out of court.  

This IA is also dismissed.

The above Order was passed by the Hon''ble Chair Person of DRAT ,Chennai on16th Oct 2012

Ramasamy & Co & ors V/S Indian Bank

M.A(S.A):99/2012

Record of proceedings on 18.10.2012 in MA (SA) No.99/2012: Ld. Counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants prayed that  SA No.101/2009 on the file of DRT-II, Chennai may be transferred  to any other DRT of competent jurisdiction and added that another SA No.97/2009 arising out of the same cause of action may also be transferred from DRT-II to any other DRT of competent jurisdiction and prayed that orders may be passed.  Ld. Counsel Shri Rajesh appears on behalf of the auction purchasers who are R4 to R7 and has no objection for the transfer.  Ld. Counsel Shri Balasubramaniam appearing on behalf the respondent bank made his submissions.

Heard both sides.

In view of the facts and circumstances more particularly in view of the fact that no prejudice would be caused to the bank if the SA is transferred to any other DRT of competent jurisdiction this transfer petition is allowed.  Further in view of the fact that SA No.97/2009 also arises out of the same cause of action it would be appropriate if the said SA is also transferred from DRT-II, Chennai to any other DRT of competent jurisdiction. Accordingly the following order is passed.

“SA Nos.101/09 and 97/2009 are hereby transferred from the file of DRT-II, Chennai to DRT-III Chennai. The Ld. Presiding officer, DRT-III, Chennai is directed to take up the SAs for disposal and dispose of the same in accordance with law within a period of three months from today.”

This MA(SA) is disposed of accordingly.

IA 817/2012 (stay);  Orders have been passed in MA(SA).  Hence this IA is closed.

The above Order was passed by the Hon''ble Chair Person of DRAT ,Chennai on18th Oct 2012

No documents to show Vadra took loan from us: Corporation Bank chairman

IBN Live :Delhi | Posted on Oct 18, 2012 at 01:08pm IST

New Delhi: The Corporation Bank on Thursday confirmed that it had not given any loan to Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra. This was confirmed by Corporation Bank chairman Ajay Kumar, who said that the bank would have had no problem in admitting if the loan was given to Vadra.

"We do not have the document on which the report has been placed. If we had given the loan to Mr Vadra then there was no problem in admitting it," said Corporation Bank chairman Ajay Kumar.

Kumar further said that there was "some sort of confusion over the issue" as "probably the balance sheet which I have seen in the news report does not say that Vadra's company has taken loan.

This comes after the CNN-IBN had reported that the internal probe of the Corporation Bank had suggested that no loan was given to Vadra. CNN-IBN met top executives of the New Friend's Colony branch of Corporation Bank where Vadra's company, Skylight Hospitality, has an account.

According to sources in the bank, the New Friend's Colony branch had sent all details of accounts of Vadra's company to its head office. After a detailed scrutiny of the documents concerning the accounts by the head office of Corporation Bank, which is in Mangalore, top officials in the bank said that loan was not given to the husband of Priyanka Gandhi.

This development has thrown up a major question concerning the controversy as to how did Vadra show the overdraft in his audited balance sheet.

டெக்கான் அணி நீக்கத்திற்கு தடை விதிக்க சுப்ரீம் கோர்ட் மறுப்பு: மேல்முறையீட்டு மனுவை தள்ளுபடி செய்தது

Maalaimalar :வெள்ளிக்கிழமை, அக்டோபர் 19, 6:01 PM IST

கடும் நிதி நெருக்கடியில் சிக்கிய டெக்கான் சார்ஜர்ஸ் கிரிக்கெட் அணியை ஐ.பி.எல். அமைப்பில் இருந்து நீக்கிவிட்டு, புதிய அணியை உருவாக்குவதற்கு இந்திய கிரிக்கெட் கட்டுப்பாட்டு வாரியம் முடிவு செய்தது. 

இதையடுத்து அணியை விற்பனை செய்து கடனை அடைக்க முயன்ற டெக்கான் அணி நிர்வாகத்தின் முயற்சியும் தொடர்ந்து தோல்வியடைந்தது. பி.சி.சி.ஐ. கொடுத்த காலக்கெடுவுக்குள் ரூ.100 கோடிக்கான வங்கி உத்தரவாதத்தையும் அவர்களால் கொடுக்க முடியவில்லை. எனவே இவ்விவகாரத்தில், பி.சி.சி.ஐ. முடிவு செய்துகொள்ளலாம் என மும்பை ஐகோர்ட் தீர்ப்பளித்தது. 

இதையடுத்து டெக்கான் அணி ஐ.பி.எல். அமைப்பில் இருந்து நீக்கப்பட்டது. இந்த முடிவை ரத்து செய்யும்படி டெக்கான் சார்ஜர்ஸ் மும்பை ஐகோர்ட்டில் மீண்டும் மனு தாக்கல் செய்தது. இந்த வழக்கை விசாரித்த நீதிபதிகள், இந்த விவகாரத்தில் தலையிட மறுத்து விட்டனர். 

இந்நிலையில் சுப்ரீம் கோர்ட்டில் இன்று டெக்கான் சார்ஜர்ஸ் சார்பில் மூத்த வழக்கறிஞர் முகுல் ரோகத்கி அப்பீல் மனு ஒன்றினை தாக்கல் செய்தார். அதில் அணி நீக்கத்திற்கு இடைக்கால தடை விதிக்க வேண்டும் என்று கோரப்பட்டிருந்தது. ஆனால் தலைமை நீதிபதி அல்டமாஸ் கபீர் தலைமையிலான பெஞ்ச் இம்னுவை தள்ளுபடி செய்தது. இதன்மூலம், பி.சி.சி.ஐ. இனி ஏலம் மூலம் புதிய அணியை தேர்வு செய்யலா

SBI and Suzlon...3500 crs debt

 PTI : 11 th Oct 2012


State Bank of India  , which has a Rs 3,500-crore of fund and non-fund based exposure to Suzlon Energy  , today said the Pune-based wind power major should look at leveraging the balance-sheet of its German subsidiary RE Power, and a merger.

"Suzlon needs to leverage the RE Power balance sheet and probably in the long-run, merge these two operations. Because when they merge, the profitability of the whole group can go substantially higher using low-cost of production here," SBI deputy managing director, large corporates, Santosh B Nayar told reporters here
.

Noting that RE Power is practically debt-free and has got huge cash pile, he said the German arm is also ring fenced by German banks. SBI is lead banker to Suzlon's Rs 14,000-crore debt. The Pune-based company is also reportedly pitching for a debt recast, but SBI has ruled it out in the short-term.

"We will have to discuss with the company on CDR; we will have to look at their cash flows now and we will see what needs to be done and also see what are the assets which can be monetized," Nayar said.

Earlier in the day, Suzlon said its bondholders rejected its proposal to defer redemption of its foreign debt worth USD 221 million by four months, making it one of the largest defaults by a domestic firm. The Tulsi Tanti-promoted company has foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) worth USD 220.8 million (about Rs 1,172 crore) maturing today and the company was hoping to get bondholders' nod for more time to repay.

Following the development, Suzlon shares fell over 3 per cent to Rs 16.05 on the BSE. "It is somewhat disappointing that the bondholders' meetings did not achieve the consensus we were hoping for and the four-month extension sought by us has not been granted," Suzlon Group chief financial officer Kirti Vagadia told PTI.

Nayar further said the current default by Suzlon is not very big when one looks at the company's total debt profile. But the real problem can be from the fact that the company will have to negotiate with other bondholders and arrive at a settlement, which could impact its cash flow, he said.

Noting that the company has got a very large order book (over USD 7.2 billion), he said wind energy is a field where a lot of investors are interested. If the finances are set right, Suzlon could attract other investors. Many domestic companies including Suzlon have raised money through FCCBs. In recent times, Suzlon has been grappling with rising debt and stiff competition in global markets.

Suzlon had issued USD 200 million zero coupon convertible bonds and USD 20.8 million 7.5 per cent convertible bonds. The company on September 18 had sought extension them. The bondholders' meeting was held in London yesterday.

"We did not have enough quorum (of bondholders) with respect to the zero coupon convertible bonds while the response was not positive when it came to those holding 7.5 percent convertible bonds," Vagadia said. The company had redeemed FCCBs to the tune of USD 360.2 million this July.