IBC RESOLUTION MAY FETCH SBI ~300 BN

State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, is expecting to recover around ~300 billion through the resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) in the current financial year. Total recovery expected during the year is ~400 billion, of which the recovery from the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) first and second lists of stressed assets referred for resolution under the IBC will be between ~250 billion and ~300 billion, Pallav Mohapatra, deputy managing director (stressed assets resolution group), SBI, said on Saturday. ISHITA AYAN DUTT writes

State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, is expecting to recover around ~300 billion through the resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) in the current financial year.

Total recovery expected during the year is ~400 billion, of which the recovery from the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) first and second lists of stressed assets referred for resolution under the IBC will be between ~250 billion and 300 billion, Pallav Mohapatra, deputy managing director (stressed assets resolution group), SBI, said on Saturday. The balance will come from one-time settlement and sale to asset reconstruction firms.

SBI’s non-performing loans stand at ~2.2 trillion. The bank's exposure in the RBI’s first list of stressed accounts was ~480 billion and in the second-list accounts, it was ~280 billion, Mohapatra said on the sidelines of a Confederation of Indian Industry event on the IBC.

So far, among the IBC cases, SBI has been able to recover ~85 billion from Tata Steel’s acquisition of Bhushan Steel. Another ~15 billion is in an escrow account on account of Electrosteel Steels. The Essar Steel case is in court but a resolution is expected, as in the case of Binani Cement. SBI's exposure in the latter is small, though.

Asked whether SBI would be doing a one-time settlement with companies on the second list, Mohapatra said that in cases where SBI was the lead bank, it would not do so. Some of the companies had approached the bank for OTS.

“We will not be doing OTS. We will not be selling it to ARCs. We will go to the NCLT. Where we were the lead in the second list, we have filed with the NCLT. Whether these are going to be admitted or not, the court will decide," he said.

Mohapatra said that in all the cases where SBI was the lead, it had called up the loans and hence 100 per cent dues would have to be paid.

Speaking at the event, Mohapatra said 2018-19 would be a significant year for resolution and from the next financial year there would be a lot of positives. Quoting SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar, he said 2019-2020 would be the year of happiness.

Mohapatra admitted that the series of restructuring tools had not worked. He said hardly 2 per cent of the corporate debt restructuring (CDR) cases were successful, none of the S4A (Scheme for Sustainable Structuring for Stressed Assets) cases was successful, and SDR (strategic debt restructuring) was a big failure.

"I agree all cases should not go to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), but we will see the viability of the cases," he said, while talking about RBI's revised framework of resolution of stressed assets.