$6 billion telecom bankruptcies left hanging in India as ministries argue

Government branches are delaying bankruptcy settlements in a country whose banks suffer the world's worst bad debt ratios.

Bickering among Indian government ministries and a deferred top court decision on the sale of bankrupt telecom companies’ rights to use mobile phone spectrum has derailed the resolution of the industry’s biggest bankruptcies, leaving banks waiting for $5.7 billion in payments.

India’s Supreme Court in a verdict on telecom dues earlier this month asked a lower court to first rule on the dispute raised by the telecommunications ministry against a group of government-owned banks led by State Bank of India over the legality of the sale of airwave licenses of collapsed mobile phone operators.

The case is yet another example