Bank of Baroda ready to continue lending to Adani Group: CEO Chadha

Sanjiv Chadha, the CEO and Managing Director of Bank of Baroda, one of India’s largest public sector banks, said his bank was ready to give additional loans to the under-siege Adani Group.

Chadha, in an interview, said the bank would consider lending to the conglomerate for a project to redevelop the Dharavi slum in Mumbai, one of the world’s largest slums covering an area of about 620 acres with a population of about one million.

Also read: Adani bags Dharavi redevelopment project in Mumbai with Rs 5,069 cr bid

The Adani Group had bid ₹5,069 crore ($620 million) for the Dharavi project.

Chadha said Bank of Baroda would extend loans to the Adani Group if it met the bank’s underwriting standards, while mentioning that he was unconcerned about the current market volatility around the Adani companies stocks.

“You have underwriting standards and you stick to them in good times as well as bad times,” Chadha said in the interview. “This is subject to an extended due diligence and depends upon concentration limits.”

He refused to give any information about Bank of Baroda’s overall exposure to the Adani Group.

Also read: Bank of Baroda Q2 profit rises 59 pc to Rs 3,313 cr

Earlier this month, he had said that his bank’s exposure to the group was about a quarter of what was permitted under the RBI’s framework.

These comments from the head of a public sector bank would be music to Gautam Adani’s ears after the problems he has faced in raising capital after the damaging report from the short-seller Hindenburg Research last month. Some banks have refused to refinance a $500 million bridge loan that is due next month for his business group.