Union Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday that the top 50 wilful defaulters owe Rs 87,295 crore to banks and financial institutions.
“The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has apprised that the amount owed by the top 50 wilful defaulters in SCBs was Rs 87,295 crore as of March 31, 2023,” Karad was quoted as saying by PTI.
These wilful defaulters include fugitive Mehul Choksi’s Gitanjali Gems Limited, Rishi Agarwal’s ABG Shipyard Limited, REI Agro Limited, and Era Infra Engineering Limited. Of these wilful defaulters, the top 10 owe a whopping Rs 40,825 crore to scheduled commercial banks (SCBs), the Minister said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
Fugitive Mehul Choksi’s Gitanjali Gems is the biggest wilful defaulter, as it owes Rs 8,738 crore to banks.
Gitanjali Gems is followed by Era Infra Engineering Limited (Rs 5,750 crore), REI Agro Limited (Rs 5,148 crore), ABG Shipyard Limited (Rs 4,774 crore), and Concast Steel and Power Limited (Rs 3,911 crore).
Other wilful defaulters include Rotomac Global Private Limited (Rs 2,894 crore), Winsome Diamonds and Jewellery Limited (Rs 2,846 crore), Frost International Limited (Rs 2,518 crore), Shri Lakshmi Cotsyn Limited (Rs 2,180 crore), and Zoom Developers Private Limited (Rs 2,066 crore).
The Minister further said that the RBI advised the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) that banks should consider a compromise settlement with wilful defaulters/fraudulent borrowers without “prejudice to the criminal proceeding underway against such borrowers”. He also noted that the central bank said all such cases of compromise settlements should be vetted by the Management Committee/Board of Banks.
