Skip to main content

Banks set norms to select bidders for troubled assets

Banks set norms to select bidders for troubled assets
Banks, stung by fear of investigative agencies disrupting their lives even if they follow the bankruptcy process, have evolved a common set of evaluation criteria to short list potential buyers to be admitted in the bidding for assets put on the block under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, said two people familiar with the developments
The ability of the bidders to bring in equity funding, future potential to borrow, past track record of turning around projects are among the criteria evolved after weeks of deliberations, said the people who did not want to be identified. The other criterion that could go in favour of bidders are: higher amount of sustainable debt, shorter duration of the repayment schedule, equity upside for the lenders, allotment of redeemable instruments to lenders and the optional cash flows at the disposal of the bidder.
“As a bank I am interested in getting most of my money back in the short- est possible time and with the least amount of haircut,” said a banker at a state-run bank who did not want to be identified. “With these objectives in mind, who so ever gives me a cheque with a single amount I am happy with it because it will help me get rid of the non-performing loans.”
Bankers, who were haunted by the arrest of their peers in the Kingfisher AirlinesBSE 3.03 % case and the bogey created by the prospect of unscrupulous promoters getting their asset at a steep discount, are turning cautious. Although the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code provides protection from the gumboots, bankers do not want to take any risk. Banks have also prepared a set of subjective criterion to evaluate the bidder which includes the applicant’s background
Ten days ago, the Act was amended to bar wilful defaulters from participating in the resolution process, while other defaulters can participate only if they regularise their loans before bidding. As things stand, all lenders are unanimous that the highest bidder will have priority over others. “If that is not possible and he says part debt and part restructure, there will be tenure based discount. If lenders have to make sacrifice, then we will see what equity is given to us and what is the bidder’s track record,” said another bank official

The Economic Times, New Delhi, 5th December 2017

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Household debt up, but India still lags emerging-market economies: RBI

  Although household debt in India is rising, driven by increased borrowing from the financial sector, it remains lower than in other emerging-market economies (EMEs), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its Financial Stability Report. It added that non-housing retail loans, largely taken for consumption, accounted for 55 per cent of total household debt.As of December 2024, India’s household debt-to-gross domestic product ratio stood at 41.9 per cent. “...Non-housing retail loans, which are mostly used for consumption purposes, formed 54.9 per cent of total household debt as of March 2025 and 25.7 per cent of disposable income as of March 2024. Moreover, the share of these loans has been growing consistently over the years, and their growth has outpaced that of both housing loans and agriculture and business loans,” the RBI said in its report.Housing loans, by contrast, made up 29 per cent of household debt, and their growth has remained steady. However, disaggregated data sho...

External spillovers likely to hit India's financial system: RBI report

  While India’s growth remains insulated from global headwinds mainly due to buoyant domestic demand, the domestic financial system could, however, be impacted by external spillovers, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its half yearly Financial Stability Report published on Monday.Furthermore, the rising global trade disputes and intensifying geopolitical hostilities could negatively impact the domestic growth outlook and reduce the demand for bank credit, which has decelerated sharply. “Moreover, it could also lead to increased risk aversion among investors and further corrections in domestic equity markets, which despite the recent correction, remain at the high end of their historical range,” the report said.It noted that there is some build-up of stress, primarily in financial markets, on account of global spillovers, which is reflected in the marginal rise in the financial system stress indicator, an indicator of the stress level in the financial system, compared to its p...

Retail inflation cools to a six-year low of 2.82% in May on moderating food prices

  New Delhi: Retail inflation in India cooled to its lowest level in over six years in May, helped by a sharp moderation in food prices, according to provisional government data released Thursday.Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation eased to 2.82% year-on-year, down from 3.16% in April and 4.8% in May last year, data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) showed. This marks the fourth consecutive month of sub-4% inflation, the longest such streak in at least five years.The data comes just days after the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee cut the repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.5%, its third straight cut and a cumulative reduction of 100 basis points since the easing cycle began in February. The move signals a possible pivot from inflation control to supporting growth.Food inflation came in at just 0.99% in May, down from 1.78% in April and a sharp decline from 8.69% a year ago.A Mint poll of 15 economists had projected CPI ...