National News

Banks had tried to revive ABG Shipyard but failed: SBI

The State Bank of India on Sunday said that the consortium of banks, which had made loans to ABG Shipyard, had tried to revive its operations but all efforts failed as it was going through a downturn.

Sentinel Digital Desk

NEW DELHI: It said that the fraud was mainly attributed to diversion of funds, misappropriation, and criminal breach of trust.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday conducted raids in Rs 22,842 crore loan fraud case lodged against Gujarat-based ABG Shipyards and its directors, at over a dozen places, including Surat, Bharuch, Mumbai, and Pune which led to the recovery of incriminating documents. A complaint against them was lodged by the SBI on the basis of which the CBI filed an FIR naming Rishi Aggarwal and Santhanam Muthuswamy, the directors of ABG Shipyards.

The SBI said that due to poor performance, the account became NPA on November 11, 2013.

"ABG Shipyard was incorporated on March 15, 1985, has been banking arrangements since 2001. Financed under consortium arrangement over a two dozen lenders. Leader in Consortium was ICICI Bank. Due to poor performance, account became NPA in 2013. Several efforts were made to revive the company operations but could not succeed," the SBI said in a press note.

The SBI further stated that ABG Shipyard's account was restructured under CDR mechanism in March 2014 by all lenders. However, as the shipping industry was going through a downturn, one of the worst ever seen, the company could not be revived. (IANS)

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