Top 5 Largest Wilful Defaults of IDBI Bank: From ABG Shipyard to Amtek Auto

Troubled IDBI Bank is currently undergoing a strategic disinvestment process as part of the Indian government's plan to privatise the lender in the current financial year, ie FY 2025-26.

The government and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) hold over 94% stake in IDBI, and efforts are underway to complete the disinvestment process by the end of the current fiscal year, reported Moneycontrol earlier in April. The public lender earlier reported that it has an outstanding due of over Rs 68,282 crore till September 2024, according to data available on watchoutinvestors.com.

IDBI Bank Employees Opposing Bank's Privatisation

As the government is moving ahead with its plan to privatise IDBI Bank, its employees are opposing the lender's disinivesment plan. According to an Economic Times report, the bank employees have claimed that there has been persistent delay in the loan recovery and proceeding against the promoters of defaulting company.

IDBI Bank Top Wilful Defaulters

The top defaulters list includes names like ABG Shipyard, Muthuswamy Santhanam, Amtek Auto, Bhushan Power and Steel Limited, etc. According to data available on watchoutinvestors.com, here is the list of the top 5 defaulters of IDBI Bank.

Defaulters	Owners and Promoters	Loan Default Amount (crore)
ABG Shipyard	MUTHUSWAMY SANTHANAM, RISHI KAMLESH AGARWAL	2057.06
AMTEK AUTO LTD.	ARVIND DHAM, GAUTAM MALHOTRA	1805.92
BHUSHAN POWER & STEEL LTD.	DINESH KUMAR YADAV, RAM NARESH YADAV, RAVI PRAKASH GOYAL	1639.63
Punj Lloyd	ATUL KUMAR JAIN, ATUL PUNJ, JYOTI PUNJ, SHIV PUNJ	1106.85
DEWAN HOUSING FINANCE CORP.LTD.	DHEERAJ RAJESHKUMAR WADHAWAN, KAPIL KUMAR WADHAWAN	834.23

ABG Shipyard

ABG Shipyard went into liquidation in 2017 and was later acquired by Welspun Corp. Before that the company was embroiled in a fraud case worth Rs 23,000 crore. According to a CBI chargesheet against ABG Shipyard and its erstwhile directors, the company is accused of cheating 28 banks for Rs 23,000 crore. Once a reliable name in the logistics industry, ABG Shipyard turned into a loan default firm after it started availing loan since 2005, and its accounts turned into non-performing assets (NPAs) in 2013.

Amtek Auto

Once a leading auto-component player, Amtek Auto, turned into an ill-famed entity in the world of loan defaults. The company and its group companies have allegedly defaulted on borrowings of over Rs 25,000 crore, reported CNBC TV-18 citing sources in 2022. Amtek Auto is one of the 12 companies which were identified by the Reserve Bank of India for bankruptcy proceedings, added the report.

Bhushan Power Steel

Bhushan Power Steel and its erstwhile promoters had a loan default of Rs 44,478 crore to a consortium of lenders led by the State Bank of India. The entity was also dragged to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) by Punjab National Bank for recovery of its loan, reported Financial Express in 2018. It was found in the investigations that the erstwhile promoters of the company were involved in diverting bank funds for private investment and alleged manipulation to show fake expenses.

Punj Lloyd

Atul Kumar Jain, Jyoti Punj, Shiv Punj of Punj Lloyd are said to have defaulted on a loan worth Rs 1106.8 crore. In an Indian Express's RTI appeal, the RBI had revealed that Punj Lloyd was one of the top loan defaulters with an outstanding due of Rs 518 crore, reported IE in December, 2024. In January, the Delhi High Court had suspended a Lookout Circular against Atul Punj permitting him to travel abroad.

DHFL

The Dewan Housing Finance Corporation, a prominent name in the real estate sector, has been accused of conducting a massive financial scandal worth over Rs 34,000 crore, which allegedly included loan fraud, money laundering, etc, reported Economic Times. The company is one of the wilful defaulters of IDBI Bank with an outstanding due of Rs 834 crore.