SBI to name Anil Ambani in report to RBI; tag RCom loan account as ‘fraud’
new delhi: State Bank of India (SBI) has decided to classify the loan account of beleaguered telecom firm Reliance Communications as “fraud” and report the name of its erstwhile director Anil Ambani to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The move is expected to be followed by other lenders who have given loans to Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom).
Reliance Communications, in a regulatory filing, said it has received a letter dated June 23, 2025, from State Bank of India (SBI) to this effect.
SBI has decided to report the loan account of the company as ‘fraud’ and report the name of Anil Ambani (erstwhile director of the company) to the RBI, as per the extant RBI guidelines, it said.
As per RBI guidelines, after a bank classifies an account as ‘fraud’, the lender should then report it to the RBI within 21 days of detection and also report the case to the CBI/Police.
Meanwhile, industrialist Anil Ambani’s lawyers have written to SBI, protesting against the classification of loan accounts of bankrupt Reliance Communications as fraudulent, saying the move violated RBI guidelines as well as court directions.
In the July 2 letter, the counsel said the SBI’s order was shocking and had been passed ex parte, and in violation of the principles of natural justice.
It is to be noted that Reliance Communications and its subsidiaries received a total loan of Rs 31,580 crore from banks.
SBI, in the letter sent to RCom, said it has found deviation in the utilisation of loans, involving a complex web of fund movements across multiple group entities.
“We have taken cognizance of the responses to our Show Cause Notice and after due examination of the same, it is concluded that sufficient reasons have not been provided by the respondent, to explain the non-adherence to the agreed terms and conditions of the loan documents or the irregularities observed in the conduct of the account of RCL to the satisfaction of the bank,” it said.
Accordingly, the letter said the Fraud Identification Committee of the bank has decided to classify the loan account of RCL as fraud.
As per the RBI guidelines, the penal provisions are applicable to the fraudulent borrower, including the promoter director and other whole-time directors of the company.
In particular, borrowers who have defaulted and have also committed fraud in the account would be debarred from availing finance from banks, Development Financial Institutions, government-owned NBFCs, etc, for a period of five years from the date of full payment of the defrauded amount.
After this period, it is for individual institutions to take a call on whether to lend to such a borrower, and no restructuring or grant of additional facilities may be made in the case of fraud accounts.
As per the report of the Fraud Identification Committee, out of the total loan, Rs 13,667.73 crore, about 44 per cent, was utilised for the repayment of loans and other obligations.
