Piramal Enterprises denies loan defaults by Lodha, Omkar, Vatika and others

Piramal Enterprises (PEL) issued a strong denial of speculation on loan defaults by realty developers to itself and to subsidiary Piramal Capital and Housing Finance (PCHFL). On Friday, these rumours had pushed the PEL stock down 10 per cent on the National Stock Exchange, to Rs 1,890, and by 9.7 per cent to Rs 1,894.7 on the BSE.

The rumours were on alleged defaults by Lodha, Omkar, Vatika, Embassy, Radius, Nahar, Aristo and Supertech, among other property developers. The speculation was perhaps linked to the National Housing Board (NHB) starting its annual inspection of PCHFL. PEL noted the NHM exercise was an annual affair for all housing finance companies. PCHFL got its licence in end-August 2017 and, accordingly, NHB had begun its annual inspection now, it said. “This is purely routine and procedural in nature.” 

The firm said: “(We) categorically state that we have a robust loan processing and recovery process, including risk management and asset monitoring systems. Developers like Lodha, Omkar, Vatika and Embassy referred to in the rumours are part of our lending portfolio but have never defaulted on any interest or repayment obligation to PEL or PCHFL.” PCHFL, a subsidiary of PEL, provides financing solutions in the segment, such as early-stage PE, structured debt, senior secured debt, construction finance, flexilease rental discounting and housing finance.

Also, went the statement, contrary to the rumours, PCHFL had not extended any loan to Aristo, Nahar, Supertech, Radius and Amrapali. “Therefore, there is no question of any default on loan repayments by these developers.”

PEL has scheduled a call-conference after its board meeting this Thursday for adoption of its quarterly financial results.

 PEL is a diversified company, with presence in financial services, pharmaceuticals and health care. Consolidated revenue was $1.6 billion in 2017-18, with 46 per cent of this being generated from outside India.