STATE BANK OF INDIA SUMMONED TOP STEEL COMPANIES TO CONDUCT A REVIEW OF LOAN REPAYMENTS

State Bank of India, the lead lender in most consortiums and one of the most affected from the large corporate defaults seen recently, on Wednesday summoned the promoters of top steel companies, including Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL), Bhushan Steel, Essar Steel, Visa Steel and Adhunik Metals to Mumbai, to conduct a rare review of loan repayments and explore possible options of bringing in strategic investors.

The review, under the aegis of the joint lenders’ forum (JLF), was described as “unprecedented” by one of the promoters who attended the meeting. It comes in the wake of the furore over the default by Kingfisher Airlines and promoter Vijay Mallya, who left for the UK even as the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate initiated investigations into possible fraud.