Wilful loan defaults in India have grown ten-fold since 2012 and amount to Rs 2.4 trillion, said a media report on Wednesday listing a shipyard company’s promoter and two brothers as among top culprits.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) defines wilful defaulters as people who had the capacity to repay their loans but chose not to. Companies that use funds for purposes other than what the loans were originally granted for are wilful defaulters as well.
The ‘Times of India’ named Rishi Agarwal, Arvind Dham, Mehul Choksi, and the Sandesara brothers among defaulters. Agarwal is the promoter of ABG Shipyard Ltd, which allegedly has failed to repay loans worth Rs 6,382 crore and is the top defaulter. It’s followed by Amtek Auto Limited and subsidiaries, promoted by Arvind Dham. The group has defaulted on loans worth Rs 5,885 crore.
The newspaper report considered accounts that have an outstanding loan amount of Rs 25 lakh or more. There were over 12,000 such cases, till March 31, 2022.
The Sandesara brothers, Nitin and Chetan, are third on the list and fugitive economic offenders (FEO) according to the Indian government. They have allegedly defaulted on loans worth Rs 3,757 crore taken by their company Sterling Global Oil Resources Pvt Ltd and its subsidiaries.
Rs 2.4 trillion, the total default amount, is 42 per cent of the total…
