March 21, 2022
Abir Ranjan Biswas’s Zero Hour notice on need for stricter checks before issuing corporate loans
Sir, my Zero Hour mention is related to the ABG Shipyard Limited. Sir, recently, a company engaged in ship-building and repairs in the State of Gujarat was embroiled in scandalous allegations of fraud. Between 2012 to 2017, ABG Shipyard Limited purportedly defrauded a consortium of 28 banks led by the ICICI Bank to the tune of Rs. 22,842 crores.Sir, the loans were taken and then diverted to fake uses. Now, the important part comes. The SBI identified the fraud in January, 2019. It lodged a complaint in November, 2019. A more comprehensive complaint was again lodged in August, 2020. But, it took up till February, 2021 for the CBI to register a case finally. So, the CBI registered a case and booked ABGSL and ABG International Private Ltd. Now, Sir, as of 2021, Indian public sector banks collectively owed approximately Rs. 6.17 trillion in non-performing assets. This includes all the money that has been defrauded by scamsters.
