Large Defaulters Owe Rs.29 Lakh Crore to PSU Banks, Recovery Cases Ongoing in Courts

The Government says NPA is decreasing in Public Sector Banks but Data tells a different story. While the Union Government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) claim that Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) of Public Sector Banks are at a ten-year low, the latest data shows that large defaulters of PSU banks owe around ₹29 lakh crore. Large defaulters are borrowers who owe ₹1 crore or more and are facing civil cases filed by banks for non-repayment of loans.

Earlier in February, the Government informed Parliament that the gross NPA ratio of scheduled commercial banks had fallen to a historic low of 2.15% of total loans and advances as of September 2025. However, there is still no clear explanation of how these figures were calculated.

This report was published by The Pioneer and what’s more shocking is that the day after The Pioneer published the report on large defaulters of public sector banks using data from TransUnion CIBIL, the database was suddenly taken down on Monday morning. Later in the day, only partial data was restored.

According to publicly available data, 11 PSU banks are currently fighting civil cases in courts across the country to recover about ₹28.93 lakh crore from corporate borrowers. All PSU banks except Indian Bank have published their lists of large defaulters. One of the biggest defaulters on the list is Anil Ambani and his companies, with outstanding dues of about ₹48,282 crore.

NPA Data not Shared by Banks

Details of NPAs have been made public only once by the RBI. In 2021, the RBI submitted NPA data in a sealed cover to the Supreme Court after a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed by former BJP MP Subramanian Swamy. He had asked the court to issue guidelines for giving large loans to corporate borrowers. The RBI told the court that these accounts belonged to existing customers and banks must follow privacy rules. As a result, the data was never released publicly.

Swamy had also attached a 2015 Credit Suisse report titled “Debt Over Debt” with his PIL. The report claimed that India’s top 10 corporate groups together had NPAs exceeding ₹11 lakh crore. The list included the Anil Ambani Group, Vedanta, Essar Group, Adani Group, Jaypee Group, JSW Group, GMR Group, Lanco, Videocon Group and GVK Group.

Large Defaults in Banks

Among the PSU banks, Union Bank of India has the highest amount of large defaults, with dues of about ₹9.96 lakh crore. State Bank of India (SBI) comes second with ₹5.79 lakh crore.

The list of large defaulters across 11 Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) banks totals over Rs. 29 lakh crore. Two banks — State Bank of India and Union Bank of India — together have Rs. 15.75 lakh crore in defaults. Union Bank alone faces Rs. 9.96 lakh crore in defaults, while SBI’s exposure stands at Rs. 5.79 lakh crore. As per reports, a large share of these loans were reportedly sanctioned without recoverable collateral.

What’s more concerning is that several defaulting companies secured loans by pledging shares, whose prices were allegedly inflated in stock markets. Many of these pledged shares have since been liquidated or sharply corrected during proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

Among the largest defaulters are Anil Ambani and his companies, with loans amounting to INR 48,282 crore from both public and private lenders, including National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). Ambani is listed as a personal guarantor in a few loans. Records show variations in his name — including “Anil D Ambani” and “Anil Dhirajlal Ambani” — while in many cases company staff are listed as directors and guarantors, complicating recovery efforts.

Data from TransUnion CIBIL shows 13 banks extended about 70 loans to Ambani and his firms. The Central Bank of India alone sanctioned six loans worth INR 3,046 crore to the now-defunct Reliance Naval and Engineering Limited. The bank later issued six loans totalling INR 1,582 crore to Reliance Communications. The company had dues of about INR 48,000 crore and was acquired through insolvency by his brother Mukesh Ambani for just INR 430 crore.

When the matter reached the Supreme Court, during hearings related to Anil Ambani’s loan fraud cases, Chief Justice of India, Justice Surya Kant said that the insolvency process had “become a mockery.” The case was filed by former Government Secretary EAS Sarma and argued by advocate Prashant Bhushan.

SBI sanctioned the largest number of loans to Ambani-linked firms, often splitting them into smaller amounts and sometimes through consortium. The bank extended 16 loans totaling INR 13,633 crore to companies including Reliance Communications, Reliance Naval, Reliance Telecom and Reliance Infratel.

Union Bank of India granted 11 loans worth INR 6,724 crore to Reliance Communications, Reliance Telecom and Reliance Naval. Federal Bank extended seven loans totaling INR 1,976 crore to Anil Ambani’s US-based film production firm Reliance Big Entertainment (US) Inc. Other lenders included IFCI, UCO Bank, Axis Bank, Punjab and Sind Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Canara Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and Karur Vysya Bank. NABARD also filed a civil suit against Reliance Commercial and Finance Limited for defaulting on an INR 1,106 crore loan.

Bank Wise Data of Loan Defaults by Large Corporate Borrowers

Bank Wise defaults data is given below. Click on the links below and read the details of the defaults of that particular bank.

• Canara Bank has loan default of Rs 2.49 lakh crore from Large Corporates
• PNB facing loan default of Rs 2.59 crore from Large Corporates
• SBI facing huge loan default of Rs 5.79 lakh crore by Large Corporates
• Bank of Maharashtra has Rs 1.78 lakh crore default by Large Corporates
• Bank of Baroda has default of Rs 2.21 Lakh Crore by Large Corporates
• UCO Bank: Rs 1.11 Lakh crore Default by Large Corporates in UCO Bank
• Union Bank of India has default of Rs 9.96 Lakh Crore from Large Corporates
• Central Bank of India grappling with loan defaults worth Rs 1.44 lakh crore from large corporates

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