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A senior SBI official clarified on Wednesday that there was nothing irregular in the loans given to various telecom companies that were involved in the 2G spectrum scam. He was reacting to the Business Line story on the Reserve Bank of India finding deviations in SBI's bridge loans to the sector. He said that these comments by the regulator were in the nature of audit observations which had since been explained to them.
Tracing the history of the loans given to the telecom sector, he said banks, including SBI, saw an opportunity for themselves when these companies bid for spectrum licence. Since the amounts involved were large, bank funding was a necessity, he said.
Referring to the criticism that sanction was done despite the delay in rollout of plans, he said the bank could not find fault with the companies for a systemic delay in the allotment of the spectrum.
Speaking about the loans sanctioned to Uninor, he said that SBI took the decision to lend because of the impressive credentials of the foreign partner Telenor, the Norwegian telecom major in which the majority stake was held by the Government of Norway.
He also said that after the problems broke out in the 2G spectrum case, Uninor had brought in its own funds and closed the bridge loan. And the company has not drawn any further amount from the amounts sanctioned subsequently, he said.
Unsecured lending
Further, with regard to loans given to companies such as Loop, Reliance Telecom and others, the official said that there was no ceiling on the unsecured lending that could be done.
Asked if such large amounts could be given without any security, he said that such cases would be referred to the board of directors.The board, he said, had the power to approve unsecured lending based on the standing, the relationship and business potential of the borrowing companies. He added that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had also gone into the case and cleared the bank of any wrongdoing in this matter.
Incidentally, SBI's new chief, Mr Pratip Chaudhuri, said in an interview to another publication on Tuesday that licence was the biggest asset in the telecom sector and that could not be pledged.
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