SC to decide on disclosing RBI’s list of defaulters
The Supreme Court will decide whether or not a list of big loan defaulters submitted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) can be disclosed after four weeks.
The list was submitted to the court by RBI in March in a sealed envelope.
RBI said disclosing the names could have an adverse impact on their businesses.
“There are a series of statues that can be looked into to decide whether the disclosure can be made,” counsel for RBI told the court.
A bench headed by chief Justice JS Khehar said the matter will be heard after four weeks.
The court had on February 16 made the RBI a party “in public interest” to a 2003 case related to bad loans advanced to a few firms by state-owned Housing and Urban Development Corp. Ltd. The case was filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, an activist organisation headed by lawyer Prashant Bhushan.
The court had directed RBI to provide a list of firms that have defaulted on bank loans in excess of ₹500 crore and expressed serious concern over rising bad loans.
The RBI cited reasons like delays in securing clearances from government and regulatory agencies, completing acquisition of land, an unanticipated business cycle downturn and poor project execution, besides poor credit appraisal and monitoring by banks, for the bad-loan pile-up.