Top 50 Involuntary Defaults Own Rs 92,570 Crore to Banks, Mehul Choksi Tops List: RBI Data | Popgen Tech

The top 50 voluntary defaulters collectively owed Rs 92,570 crore to Indian banks as of March 31, 2022; said the government to Parliament.

In a written reply, Bhagwat Karad, the minister of state for finance, told the Lok Sabha that Gitanjali Gems, owned by fugitive diamond merchant Mehul Choksi defaulted on loans worth Rs 7,848 crore.

Next in this list of biggest loan defaults were Era Infra (Rs 5879 crore) and Reigo Agro (Rs 4803 crore). The minister was citing data from the Reserve Bank of India.

A voluntary default is a financial term used for borrowers who have the means to repay the loan but do not. These borrowers are excluded from any facility of banks or other financial institutions.

Companies like Concast Steel and Power (Rs 4,596 crore), ABG Shipyard (Rs 3,708 crore), Frost International Rs 3,311 crore), Winsome Diamonds and Jewelery Rs 2,931 crore), Rotomac Global (Rs 2,893 crore), Coastal Projects Rs 2,111 crore) and Zoom Developers (Rs 2,147 crore) are mentioned in the list.

Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of state-owned banks declined by more than Rs 3 lakh crore after touching a high of Rs 8.9 lakh crore.

After RBI’s Asset Quality Review, gross NPAs came down Rs 5.41 lakh crore.

In his reply, Minister Karad said that the banks had written off loans of Rs 10.1 lakh crore.

India’s largest public sector bank State Bank of India, topped this list with Rs 2 lakh crore of write-offs, followed by Punjab National Bank (PNB) with Rs 67,214 crore.

Among private lenders, ICICI Bank wrote off the highest Rs 50,514 crore of loans, followed by HDFC at Rs 34,782 crore.

In his response to the lower house of Parliament, Mr Karad reiterated the government’s commitment to action against those who failed. He stated that measures are being taken to recover the loan amount.

Last week, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered three fresh FIRs against fugitive Mehul Choksi based on the complaint of Punjab National Bank Deputy General Manager. The complaint against Mr. Choksi is allegedly for defrauding PNB to the tune of Rs 6,746 crore.

The third of the latter FIR accused Mr. Choksi and others of causing a bad loss of ₹ 375.71 crores to a consortium of three member banks led by the Punjab National Bank.

The FIRs named Aniyath Shivraman Nair, Director of M/s GIL, and Dhanesh Vrajal Sheth, Director of M/s. GIL, unknown public servants, and unknown others.