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Informist, Thursday, Jun. 11, 2026

 

--NCLT Mumbai admits SBI's insolvency plea against Anil Ambani 

 

By Surya Tripathi

 

NEW DELHI – The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal Thursday admitted State Bank of India's plea to start insolvency proceedings against Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group Chairman Anil Ambani, the personal guarantor of loans given to Reliance Communications Ltd. and Reliance Infratel Ltd. State Bank of India had claimed INR-12-billion dues from Ambani. The bench of judicial member Mahadeorao Kochey and technical member Prabhat Kumar said insolvency petition against stands "admitted". A detailed order is awaited.

 

Earlier, Reliance Communications had approached the project finance strategic business unit of State Bank of India, seeking credit facilities of INR 5.65 billion for repayment of certain existing debt. Similarly, another company Reliance Infratel, one of Reliance Communications' sister concerns, also approached the bank for the credit facilities of INR 6.35 billion for the repayment of existing debt. The bank, under rupee loan facilities agreements, gave the loan to both of the companies in 2016.

 

Ambani provided personal guarantee under a personal guarantee deed in favour of State Bank of India in respect of the credit facilities given to both the companies. Both Reliance Communications and Reliance Infratel defaulted in repayment in January 2017. Thereafter, the accounts of these companies were retrospectively declared non-performing assets with effect from 2016 pursuant to the risk-based supervision.

 

In 2018, the tribunal admitted a batch of insolvency petitions filed by Ericsson India Pvt. Ltd. against Reliance Communications and Reliance Infratel. In view of the default in payment of the credit facilities, State Bank of India invoked the personal guarantee and issued an invocation notice upon Ambani. Despite various correspondence between State Bank of India and Ambani, no repayment was made on behalf of the personal guarantor, said the bank. 

 

Consequently, State Bank of India filed the insolvency petition against Ambani in 2020. The same year, the tribunal appointed a resolution professional for Ambani to submit a report whether the insolvency petition should be admitted against the personal guarantor or not. 

 

Last year, the State Bank of India also classified the loan account of Ambani and Reliance Communications as fraud for deviation of funds. State Bank of India had alleged that Ambani had misappropriated bank funds by entering into transactions that violated the terms of the loans. Thereafter, the Central Bureau of Investigation had lodged a case against Ambani for alleged bank fraud that led to a loss of over INR 29.29 billion to SBI. Other banks have also passed similar orders against Ambani and Reliance Communications. 

 

In March, the Supreme Court had pulled up the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate for reluctance in probing the alleged bank fraud by Ambani, Reliance Communications Ltd., and related entities. "The way investigating agencies have shown reluctance, that's not acceptable," said a bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, noting a status report from the agencies estimating losses suffered by banks at INR 730 billion. The top court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by former government secretary E.A.S. Sarma, seeking a court-monitored probe into an alleged large-scale bank fraud by Anil Ambani and his companies.

 

At 1114 IST, the shares of State Bank of India were down 0.2% at INR 1,001.35 on the National Stock Exchange, the shares of Reliance Communications Ltd. were down 3.2% at INR 0.91. The shares of Reliance Power Ltd. were down 1.8% at INR 26.19 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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