A S Bindra, the father of ace shooter and Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, has defaulted to banks and financial institutions. The money claimed from Bindra is over Rs 75 crore (Rs 750 million). He had borrowed it in the 1990s to set up a meat processing plant under Punjab Meats Ltd.
Banks led by the State Bank of Hyderabad, IDBI, ICICI Bank and IndusInd Bank, among others, had given the loan. They have now gone to court to get their money back. "The banks have tried to do a settlement but it did not work as Bindra refused to pay even the settlement amount," a senior official of a bank said on the condition of anonymity.
The data on Bindra's defaults are available with the Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd.
On his part, Bindra said that the amount was much smaller than what was being claimed by these banks. While refusing to reveal the size of the outstanding loan on the grounds that the matter was sub judice, he said: "I am a victim of political vendetta as the state government did not allow me to start commercial production after the plant was ready."
"The Asian Development Bank had taken an equity stake in the company and we were planning to do a public issue of Rs 7.5 crore after starting commercial production," Bindra said, adding: "As the state government did not allow production to commence, the company turned sick and was referred to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction."
"The cases are pending in the Supreme Court, where we have deposited Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million) for settlement of the dues. The next hearing is in January 2009," he added.
Meanwhile, the State Bank of Hyderabad has declared the company a wilful defaulter to the tune of Rs 13.83 crore (Rs 138.3 million) and has said the total outstanding loan is Rs 38.30 crore (Rs 383 million). "The figures claimed by these banks are wrong as they have included penal interest," Bindra said.
While some banks such as ICICI Bank have already transferred these non-performing loans to an asset reconstruction company, others have transferred them to the stressed asset stabilisation fund, sources said.
IndusInd Bank, which had given a loan of Rs 5.4 crore (Rs 54 million), had settled for Rs 7 crore (Rs 70 million) in 2006.
The company paid Rs 2.6 crore (Rs 26 million) and not the balance. In January 2008, another settlement of Rs 7 crore (Rs 70 million) was reached, which also failed as the company did not honour its commitment, sources said.
