Several banks have started moving the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to invoke the personal guarantees given by promoters of defaulting companies.

According to banking sources, leading banks, including State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda (BOB), and Union Bank of India (UBI) have approached different benches of NCLT to invoke the personal guarantee of 17 big defaulters including Atul Punj of Punj Lloyd (Rs 3,000 crore), Sanjay Singal of Bhushan Power and Steel (Rs 47,150 crore), and Wadhawans of DHFL (Rs 79,000 crore).

Sources says that banks have decided that for invoking the personal guarantees, only the lead lender in each case will go to the NCLT.

Sources revealed that other big names in the list of personal guarantors, against whom banks have initiated legal action, include Sabbineni Surendra of Coastal Projects Ltd (Rs 4,700 crore), Arun Dham of Amtek Auto (Rs 12,650 crore), Rishi Agarwal of ABG Shipyard (Rs 1,800 crore), Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon (Rs 22,000 crore), Yudhistir Khaitan of Varun Shipping (Rs 4,000 Crore), L. Madhusudan Rao of Lanco (Rs 11,000 crore) and R M Garg of DMI Finance Limited (Rs 2,953 crore).

In all these cases applications have been filed by the banks before the NCLT Benches in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Mumbai.

Top 10 personal guarantors have guaranteed a total Debt of over Rs 1.6 lakh crore.

The Supreme Court in May had held that the November 15, 2019 government notification allowing creditors, usually financial institutions and banks, to move against personal guarantors under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) was ‘legal and valid’.

After Supreme Court’s judgment on Personal Guarantee dated May 21, 2021, State Bank and other banks pursue various benches of NCLT and High Courts against the following Personal Guarantors:

1. Joginder Singh Lather – Intec Capital, Rs 6,823 crore

2. Sabbineni Surendra – Coastal Projects Ltd – BoB Calcutta Branch – Rs 4,700 Crore

3. E. Sudhir Reddy – Consortium of PSU Banks, SBI, Canara Bank – Rs 4,830 Crore

4. A Y Jayaprakash – Coastal Projects – SBI Calcutta Branch – Rs 4,700 crore

5. Aarti Singhal, Bhushan Group – SBI Delhi Branch – Rs 47,150 Crore

6. Sanjay Singal Bhushan Power and Steel – SBI Delhi Branch – Rs 47,150 Crore

7. Atul Punj – SBI Delhi Branch – Rs 3,000 Crore

8. Arun Dham – SBI Chandigarh Branch – Rs 12,650 Crore

9. Rishi Agarwal – ABG Shipyard – SBI, ICICI, NCLT Ahmedabad – Rs 1,800 Crore

10. Wadhawan – U Bank of India, NCLT Mumbai – Rs 79,000 Crore

11. Venugopal Dhoot – SBI, NCLT Mumbai – Rs 22,000 Crore

12. Dhiraj Wadhawan – NCLT Mumbai – Rs 79,000 Crore

13. Yudhistir Khaitan – Varun Shipping, NCLT Mumbai, SBI – Rs 4,000 Crore

14. L. Madhusudan Rao, Lanco – NCLT Hyderabad, SBI – Rs 11,000 Crore

15. Viceroy Hotels – P. Chakradhar Reddy – SBI Hyderabad Branch – Rs 1,200 Crore

16. R M Garg – DMI Finance Limited – Delhi Branch – RS 2,953 Crore

17. Yogesh Mehra / Ajay Mehra – SBI Mumbai Branch – Rs 5,200 Crore