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NMC Healthcare founder BR Shetty has filed a massive $15 billion (approx. ₹1.44 lakh crore) lawsuit against Bank of Baroda (BoB) and 25 other defendants in the Bombay High Court. The commercial suit, filed on October 13, 2026, accuses the public sector lender of playing an active, collusive role in the financial fraud that triggered the multi-billion-dollar collapse of his business empire.
The $15 Billion Damage Breakdown is as follows: $5 Billion in direct damages for lost shareholdings and enforced liabilities, $5 Billion for consequential losses, including lost business opportunities and $5 Billion for severe reputational damage, loss of business standing, and goodwill.
The 84-year-old billionaire alleges that Bank of Baroda was not a victim of the fraud, but an active instrument used to execute it.
Shetty alleges that BoB officers actively facilitated the siphoning of corporate funds through round-tripping transactions between group companies and faux supplier entities.
The petition claims the bank’s internal systems generated over 100 anti-money laundering (AML) alerts regarding these transactions, all of which were ignored and closed by bank staff.
Shetty alleges bank officials accepted illegal gratifications—including luxury electronics and a Rolex watch—to hide group borrowings from statutory auditors. He also claims the bank accepted critical credit documents and personal guarantees bearing forged signatures.
This fresh lawsuit comes just three months after Bank of Baroda executed a $600 million (approx. ₹5,700 crore) out-of-court settlement in July 2026 with the joint administrators of NMC Health (Alvarez & Marsal).
That settlement resolved long-standing legal battles in UK and Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) courts regarding undisclosed debts. While BoB settled those claims “without admission of liability,” Shetty argues in his new suit that this massive payout severely weakens the bank’s legal grounds to pursue him under the same underlying personal guarantees.
To understand this, First understand What is the BoB-NMC Case?
NMC Health was once the largest private healthcare provider in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), founded by Indian-origin billionaire Dr. B.R. Shetty.
The 2020 Collapse: In late 2019 and early 2020, financial investigators uncovered a massive accounting fraud. It was revealed that NMC Health had hidden over $4.5 billion in undisclosed debt (reporting $2.1 billion when the actual figure was around $6.6 billion). The company imploded and went into insolvency.
The Role of Bank of Baroda: BoB’s Abu Dhabi operations served as the principal institutional banker for NMC Health. Following the insolvency, the court-appointed joint administrators (Alvarez & Marsal) filed civil lawsuits against several entities—including Bank of Baroda—in the UK and UAE courts.
The Administrators’ Claim: The administrators alleged that BoB was not just an innocent lender but had facilitated improper financial transactions, failed to conduct strict money-laundering (AML) checks, and inadvertently helped conceal the true debt position that sustained the fraud. BoB vehemently denied any intentional wrongdoing.
The July 2026 Settlement
To avoid years of expensive, unpredictable, cross-border litigation, Bank of Baroda agreed to a massive out-of-court settlement of $600 million (~₹5,700 crore) on July 2, 2026.
This settlement was paid directly to the NMC administrators to resolve all outstanding civil legal claims against the bank.
Crucially, BoB signed this settlement “without any admission of liability or wrongdoing”. It was strictly a commercial move to clear the bank’s legal books.
If the Case Was Settled, Why Is It Open Again?
While the settlement successfully resolved the dispute between Bank of Baroda and NMC’s corporate administrators, it did not resolve the disputes involving the individual founder, B.R. Shetty. The legal battle is open again due to two conflicting actions:
Reason 1: BoB is still pursuing Shetty for ₹2,800 Crore
Despite paying the $600 million global settlement, Bank of Baroda continues to aggressively pursue B.R. Shetty personally in Indian and UAE courts to recover outstanding corporate dues worth ₹2,800 crore, using personal guarantees Shetty reportedly signed.
Reason B: Shetty has counter-sued BoB for $15 Billion (The New Lawsuit)
Feeling cornered by the bank’s recovery actions and the damage to his reputation, B.R. Shetty filed a brand-new $15 billion lawsuit against BoB in the Bombay High Court on October 13, 2026.
Shetty’s core arguments for restarting the legal battle are:
“I didn’t sign those guarantees”: Shetty claims that former corrupt NMC executives colluded with BoB bank staff to siphon off corporate money using forged documents and signatures that he never authorized.
The Settlement is a Weapon: Shetty argues that because BoB paid a $600 million settlement to NMC’s administrators for their role in the financial irregularities, the bank has effectively validated that systemic lapses occurred internally. Therefore, he claims, BoB cannot legally turn around and hold him liable under the exact same flawed accounts.
The Damage Claim: Because a Look Out Circular was issued against him and his global business empire collapsed, he is demanding $15 billion for direct losses, future business opportunities, and massive reputational damage.
The case isn’t technically “reopened”; rather, a new chapter has begun. The corporate settlement in the UAE cleared the bank’s debt liability with the company, but it left the personal, high-stakes battle between Bank of Baroda and founder B.R. Shetty completely unresolved.
Bank of Baroda’s Official Response
Following a 2.6% drop in its stock price on Wednesday morning, Bank of Baroda issued a formal clarification to the stock exchanges.
The bank stated it has not yet been formally served with the lawsuit and cannot comment on untested media reports. BoB reiterated that it is aggressively pursuing recovery and enforcement proceedings against BR Shetty in both India and the UAE for outstanding dues amounting to approximately ₹2,800 crore, for which it has already secured multiple court decrees.
The lender stated that it will robustly defend its financial interests and bears no immediate liability or provisioning requirements until a formal court order dictates otherwise.
