Mehul Choksi tops wilful defaulter list with Rs 7,848 crore default; Check out full list
The top 50 wilful defaulters collectively owed Rs 92,570 crore to Indian banks as of March 31, 2022; the government told Parliament. The minister of state for finance, Bhagwat Karad, informed the Lok Sabha in writing that the diamond trader Mehul Choksi's Gitanjali Gems had defaulted on debts totaling Rs 7,848 crore.
FollowThe top-50 wilful defaulters owed a total of Rs 92,570 crore to Indian banks as of March 31, 2022, Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad told Lok Sabha. Gitanjali Gems, which is owned by wanted diamond trader Mehul Choksi, was also mentioned as having defaulted on debts totaling Rs 7,848 crore. In a written reply to a query in the Lok Sabha, Karad shared a list of wilful defaulters in India citing data from the Reserve Bank of India.
A wilful defaulter is someone who has the means to repay the debt but chose not to. According to the RBI, banks and other financial institutions are not allowed to grant more credit to willful defaulters, and their unit is prohibited from launching new operations for a period of five years.
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- Mehul Choksi’s Gitanjali Gems (Rs 7,848 crore)
- Era Infra (Rs 5,879 crore)
- Reigo Agro (Rs 4,803 crore)
- Concast Steel and Power (Rs 4,596 crore)
- ABG Shipyard (Rs 3,708 crore)
- Frost International (Rs 3,311 crore)
- Winsome Diamonds and Jewellery (Rs 2,931 crore)
- Rotomac Global (Rs 2,893 crore)
- Coastal Projects (Rs 2,311 crore)
- Zoom Developers (Rs 2,147 crore)
Wilful defaulters and companies with wilful defaulters as promoters or directors are barred from accessing capital markets to raise funds through the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2016.
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Gross NPAs have decreased by Rs 5.41 lakh crore as a result of the RBI's Asset Quality Review. Minister Karad responded by stating that banks have written off loans totaling Rs 10.1 lakh crore. State Bank of India, the largest public sector bank in India, led this list with write-offs totaling Rs 2 lakh crore, followed by Punjab National Bank (PNB) with write-offs totaling Rs 67,214 crore. Among private lenders, ICICI Bank wrote off the highest Rs 50,514 crore of loans, followed by HDFC at Rs 34,782 crore.
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