Saikat Das
Moneycontrol.com
Lenders from both public and private sectors ranked higher in the two big loan restructuring cases referred to Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) cell in April, 2012: Tayal group of companies (total eight entities) at around Rs 2800 crore and ICOMM Tele, a Hyderabad-based turnkey project solution provider at Rs 1,350 crore.
In the ICOMM Tele front, third largest private sector lender -
Axis Bank holds the highest exposure of around Rs 220 crore followed by
Syndicate Bank at Rs 180 crore, a banker with the knowledge of this development told
Moneycontrol.com.
A mail sent to Axis Bank in this regard remained unanswered at the time of writing this article. India's largest private sector lender
ICICI Bank's debt to the same company stood at around Rs 150 crore. The second largest private sector major
HDFC Bank however, did not figure in the list of total 24 lenders.
Loan restructuring is the process when a borrower is unable to make timely repayments and approaches the lender to dilute the original terms under which the loan was sanctioned.
Meanwhile, state-owned
Bank of India (BoI) with an exposure of around Rs 680 crore and
UCO Bank with Rs 570 crore are the two top creditors to Tayal owned companies. The banking behemoth
State Bank of India has much lower share of loans at just Rs 60 crore in the consortium of 17 lenders. Privately owned
Federal Bank loaned just about Rs 30 crore.
Recently, the capital market regulator the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) reversed a two-year ban on the promoters of the Tayal group, who were also owners of the erstwhile Bank of Rajasthan. This move has virtually allowed them to restructure their bank loans.
For Moser Baer Solar, the
Punjab National Bank is the lead lender with Rs 200 crore exposure in a consortium of eight lenders.
Central Bank of India and
Bank of Baroda are other two major lenders. However, their loan amount could not be confirmed. The company was referred to CDR cell in April with total exposure at Rs 740 crore.
"From our own bank, we do not expect restructuring cases to go up. Our restructured book stood at Rs 8, 515 crore in FY12 as against Rs 1,600 crore in FY11. In Jan-March quarter alone, we have restructured assets of Rs 5,281 crore. In the current fiscal year, the situation would be better than the previous year," said M D Mallya, chairman and managing director, Bank of Baroda said while announcing the bank’s Q4 earnings.
Also read: April Heat: Banks recast record Rs 6K-cr loansAll the CDR referrals are under the flash stage, the first stage of debt restructuring. Under the regulatory frame work of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), CDR is an official platform for both the creditors and borrowers to amicably and collectively evolve policies for working out debt restructuring plans.
saikat.das@network18online.com 
