Canara Bank could soon get to attach DCHL's assets

Canara Bank might soon be able to attach or sell properties of Deccan Chronilce Holdings to recover its Rs 350-crore loan to the company, said R K Dubey, chairman and managing director, on Wednesday.

“The loan is partially secured because there are securities that have multiple charges to various institutions. That is why there is a fraud committed by them on the banks. Since you can not identify a particular security (for attachment), it is for the courts to take a call on these securities,” he said.

The bank had fully provided for the loan. It has filed a First Information Report, beside criminal and civil suits, with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alleging irregularities by the company and its promoters. Dubey said the bank was trying to get interim orders from the courts.

NPAs to comedown
According to Dubey , the bank’s bad loans would drop as it checks slippages and recovery goes up. The bank has a gross non-performing asset (NPA) ratio of 2.5 per cent and net NPA of 2 per cent, the lowest among its competitors.

The bank was able to upgrade the status of Rs 1,100 crore in loans under stressed accounts and made a cash recovery of Rs 3,000 crore, more than the target.  Similarly, slippages were down to Rs 1,500 crore in the September quarter from Rs 2,800 crore in June. The pressure for corporate debt restructuring(CDR) would also come down in the coming quarters, he said.

 

Responding to a question on the capital  requirement , Dubey said they would consider going for options and other routes wherever the yield would be more as they had the mandate to raise Rs 2,500 crore before March next year. "There was no pressure on raising the additional capital as we are already a Basel 3 compliant bank," he said. 

 

The Finance Ministry had already sanctioned Rs 500 crore to Canara Bank for capital infusion.