Banks may lose 90k cr as Videocon sinks

Mumbai: The beleaguered Videocon Group has admitted to stupendous outstandings to various lenders - public and private - amounting to over Rs 90,000 crore, making it perhaps the biggest corporate bankruptcy case in Indian banking history, official sources said on Thursday.

The two main group companies - Videocon Industries Ltd (VIL) and Videocon Telecommunication Ltd. (VTL) - owe Rs.59,451.87 crore and Rs.26,673.81 crore, respectively or a staggering Rs.86,125.68 crore to Indian banks, led by the State Bank of India (SBI).

Besides, 731 other Operational Creditors have made separate claims of Rs.31,117, 971,029 (VIL) and Rs.12,669,978,507 (VTL) for a total of over Rs 90,000 crore, the sources said.

Interestingly, even the Group promoters - Venugopal Dhoot, Pradipkumar Dhoot and Rajkumar Dhoot - have also filed claims of Rs.57,823.24 crores on the basis of personal guarantees provided by them for various facilities availed/guaranteed by VIL, which are under evaluation.

The VTL has also claimed Rs.17,86,94,69,659 from VIL on which there is no dispute and has been accepted in toto. This and other data has been uploaded by the company's Resolution Professional (RP) on its website on Thursday for varing periods ranging from November 2018 to January 2019.

Industry sources say this will be the biggest private sector bankruptcy in India after the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code was introduced in 2016 for debt resolution - with wide-ranging ramifications for both the corporate world and the banking sector.