Subhiksha's revival suggestion opposed by ICICI, other lenders

ICICI Bank, lead banker of cash-strapped Subhiksha Trading Services, today told the high court it was opposed, with other creditors and lenders, to the scheme proposed by Subiksha’s subsidiary, Cash and Carry, to restart the retail chain’s operations.

That involved an amalgamation with Blue Green Construction and Investments, a company promoted by Subhiksha’s founder-head, R Subramanian, and a rearrangement of lending schedules.

ICICI also told the high court today that the retail chain need not depend on the outcome of corporate debt restructuring (CDR) for its revival. The deadline for the CDR was July 31, which was missed.

The bank’s counsel said the retail chain has an exposure of around Rs 870 crore to banks, Rs 107 crore to unsecured lenders and Rs 250 crore of reserves, “which none of us know where it went”. There are also loans/advances of Rs 119 crore where the identity of the parties is unclear, it said.

The counsel, along with others, sought for an investigation on Subhiksha. The others include ICICI Venture, HCL Infosystems, Azim Premji-owned Zash Investment and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

The investigation request came after Subhiksha told the court that investors and promoters are ready to pump in Rs 250 crore. “Post merger (with Blue Green), we can pump in Rs 150 crore in eight weeks from the investors and another Rs 100 crore in 6-9 months,” counsel representing Subhiksha told the court.