Here is a verbatim transcript of the exclusive interview with Berjis Desai on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.

Q: From the reading of what you have in the media, are you getting the impression that round one has gone to the banks?

A: Not at all; as a matter of fact this is a winding-up petition, which was filed by ICICI Bank against this company after a cheque that was given as security by Sundaram for this contract bounced.

A winding-up petition is usually admitted whenever there is a crystallised undisputed debt.  In this very order, I quote from the newspaper: “Truth or otherwise of the defence taken by the company will be tested by the court in the suit or other proceedings filed by the bank before the debt recovery tribunal and the observations made in this order are only prima facie and restricted to the present proceedings for winding up.” So, none of these suits anywhere filed by corporates throughout the country have been decided. No court has gone into the legality of the issue. The main issue being that whether these contracts are void for offending the foreign exchange control laws. That is the main issue and no court has decided that. This is a side proceeding arising out of the cheque bouncing and a winding-up petition being admitted. This has no bearing on the merits of this pending suit of Sundaram, and does not have any merit on the other cases filed by the corporates.

Q: So, the company is being penalised for the cheque bouncing and not for the case of derivatives?

A: Yes, the court obviously has been impressed by the fact that the cheque which bounced was issued as security for payment of Rs 2.94 crore. That is the reason why the court has been influenced to believe that the very fact you gave a cheque, it must be an undisputed debt.

In a winding-up petition, the court never goes into the merits of the matter. It only goes into cases where there is an undisputed or a crystallised debt. Therefore this has no bearing. The suit will be finally decided upon by the debt recovery tribunal.

So, this is a side show that does not have any effect and to say that the first round has gone to either the company or the bank is entirely incorrect.

Q: Where does this put other banks like Axis Bank and Kotak that also have pending cases with a lot of corporates?

A: As I said, it has no bearing on the merits of all these suits that are pending. In one other case too, all these matters are just now being fought on the grounds of jurisdiction. The banks have filed cases before the debt recovery tribunal and the corporates have filed suits against the banks in civil courts. It would possibly take another one to one-and-a-half years by the time the suit is heard on its merits.