The Adani Group: Bank of Baroda ready to lend it more, says MD
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: In signs that market sentiment is returning to favor the Adani Group even after the USD 132 billion routs in the stocks of its 10 companies in recent weeks, Bank of Baroda (BoB) said on Monday it is willing to consider lending additional money to the leading business conglomerate.
According to media reports, BoB’s CEO and MD Sanjiv Chadha said the leading public sector bank will extend loans to the conglomerate if it meets the lender’s underwriting standards.
He said he is not concerned about the market volatility around Adani stocks.
Chadha’s comments came after some banks showed reservations about refinancing a USD 500 million bridge loan to the Adanis due next month. Recently, investor sentiment got a boost when the conglomerate said it would address upcoming maturities.
“You have underwriting standards and you stick to them in good times as well as bad times,” Chadha said as he declined to elaborate on BoB’s overall exposure to the Ahmedabad-based tycoon’s business empire.
Bank of Baroda’s exposure to the group is about a quarter of what is permitted under the Reserve Bank of India’s framework, Chadha had said recently.
State Bank of India, the country’s top lender by assets, said it has an exposure of about Rs. 27,000 crores (USD 3.3 billion) to the Adani firms, less than one percent of its overall exposures to Indian business.
Chadha said BoB will consider extending loans to the Adanis for its Dharavi redevelopment project in Mumbai after the Group bid Rs. 50.7 billion to remodel the slum in 2022.
“This is subject to an extended due diligence and depends upon concentration limits,” he said.
