State Bank of India (SBI) has expressed its concern over the unsecured loan in the range of Rs 150 crore – Rs 200 crore provided to troubled Satyam Computer’s chief Ramalinga Raju six months ago.
According to reports Raju availed the loan in his personal capacity to help fund the projects, which were owned by his sons Rama Raju and Teja Raju. The two companies are reportedly facing a severe credit crunch.
SBI charges 15%-20% interest on personal loans availed without any collateral security and if Raju fails to make a repayment within 90 days of the due date the bank will have to treat it as a bad loan. This is as per the norms of RBI that if banks restructure personal loans, then they have to immediately treat the accounts as non-performing assets (NPAs).
We demand an investigation into the sanction of Personal Loan to such a great extent. SBI Officers should know that it is not their Grandfather’s bank to lend so much to any businessman.
Reports also claimed that Raju had borrowed money from a large number of other organizations to wave over the financial crunch that was affecting the group’s infrastructure-related projects. Satyam’s chairman Ramalinga Raju confessed to frauds and manipulation in the financial statements of the concern over quarter on January 7, 2009 that bought down the shares of the IT company by more than 80%.