Post data analysis, SBI would even put ships on e-auction

India's largest mortgage lender, State Bank of India (SBI) would even offer ships online in the future after studying the analytical data on its recent e-auction of around 300 properties, said a senior official on Friday.

"We have a small coastal transport ship in our inventory of seized recovered properties. Putting it on e-auction is also a good idea. We have earlier sold couple of ships in the traditional manner," Parveen Kumar Malhotra, deputy managing director and group executive (Stressed Assets Management) told IANS.

On March 14, SBI auctioned around 300 properties (mix of residential/offices/shops/factory buildings) valued around Rs.1,200 crore online.

"We are studying the data to see the efficiency in price discovery for properties sold online. The study is to see whether the online sale price is better or the offline price is better," Malhotra said.

He said the around 130 properties got sold for a sum of Rs.80-90 crore.

The auction got good response for the residential properties put on sale.

"The experience gained is good and we are also studying how we can share more information about the properties (mainly about industrial properties) so as to conclude the sale," Malhotra said.

He said the bank had received many queries about the water supply to the factories and the approach roads.

"If it is a local bidder, he would have done the survey before the auction. Our legal department has to see whether what additional information could be shared about the property without compromising on client confidentiality," Malhotra said.

One of the views regarding the industrial properties is that the bidders need additional time and the bank is also looking at the possibility of giving a longer pre-bid period.

Another banker told IANS that SBI could also do an efficiency/economic analysis of various modes of recovering dues.

Malhotra said on the whole the e-auction was satisfactory and it was a good experience to take it forward.

Other bankers too enquired in a friendly manner as to the e-auction modalities, he added.