INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
MUMBAI: Bank of Baroda has put on the block 30 impaired loans of over ₹7,400 crore
These include loans to Binani Cement, Essar Steel and Bhushan Power, which are undergoing bankruptcy proceedings but may take longer to
reach resolutions as they are mired in litigations.
Other companies on the bank’s list include Jindal India Thermal Power, GTL
Infrastructure, GVK Industries and Jaiprakash Power.
The bank has divided the list in two parts — the deadline to submit expression for
interest (EoI) for Essar Steel, Binani Cement and Bhushan Power is June 22, while for the remaining, bidders have time till July 7.
The bank
said it would declare the minimum reserve price after receiving EoIs.
The biggest loan on sale is to Bhushan Power, amounting to ₹1,550
crore, followed by Essar Steel at ₹993 crore and Binani Cement at ₹ 328 crore
The three companies are close to finding a resolution to their debt problem under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, but a deal is not in
place yet due to litigations among bidders though the 270-day deadline to complete the process had passed.
According to senior officials
from a large bank, “There is a strong apprehension that the resolution may take longer and thus disposing of the loan would make
commercial sense.”
Bank of Baroda had gross nonperforming loans of 12.25% as of March 2018 — 5.4% after provisions
It reported a loss of ₹2,432 crore for the last fiscal year due to provisions against bad loans
Among other banks, IDBI Bank and Punjab National Bank are looking to sell bad loans.
Officials from the ARC industry think that most banks
were not determined of sell bad loans
“They come out with a list since there is a mandate from the banking regulator that they have to identify the NPAs for sale in the first
quarter,” said an ARC official who did not want to be named.
Bank of Baroda is looking to sell ₹336 crore of loans to Jindal India
Thermal and a combined ₹400 crore to GTL Infra and GTL
It has three accounts of the GVK group of ₹460 crore, to GVK Power Goindwal Sahib, GVK Industries and GVK Gautami Power.
Its list includes
loans to power companies like GMR Chhattisgarh Energy of ₹218 crore, Jaiprakash Power Ventures of ₹231 crore and Lanco Kondapalli Power
