NHB to check exposure of HFCs in Satyam cos

The housing finance regulator National Housing Bank on Thursday said it was collecting information from housing finance companies about their exposure in group entities of the scam-tainted Satyam Computer Services.

"We are collecting information from HFCs about their exposure in all group companies of Satyam," National Housing Bank (NHB) chairman S Sridhar said.

When asked about the feedback from the HFCs about their exposure in Matyas Infra and Maytas Properties, the companies owned by kins of the disgraced founder-chairman of Satyam B Ramalinga Raju, NHB chief said he would share the information at appropriate time.

NHB, which is an apex financial institution for housing in India, also regulates the housing finance companies.

The Reserve Bank of India has already asked commercial banks to submit details about their dealings with Satyam Computer and its group companies.

The chairman of the country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) O P Bhatt had said that though the bank does not have any exposure in Satyam, it had given Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) to Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties.

While chairman of another public sector lender, Bank of Baroda, M D Mallya had said his bank had "insignificant" exposure in Satyam.

The government has already ordered inspection of accounts of eight group companies of Satyam including the two Maytas companies, in addition to asking Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) to probe Satyam Computer.