Indian lenders of Dabhol file two suits

Indian lenders led by Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) have filed two suits with the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT)-I in Mumbai seeking recovery of Rs 4,842 crore and $648 million from the Enron-promoted Dabhol Power Company (DCP).

Confirming the development, the registrar of DRT-I, T V Bhavadas, said: "Two suits were filed last month. While summons have been issued to all the concerned parties by DRT-I, the summon issued to the DPC's office located in the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) on May 17 has returned to the DRT office."

In first suit, a joint application has been filed by all Indian lenders to the DPC project"" IDBI, ICICI Bank, IFCI, State Bank of India, Canara Bank and the Stressed Assets Stabilisation Fund (SASF) arm of IDBI "" against DPC, while also making foreign institutional lenders as respondents along with DPC.

The foreign banks are ABN Amro, ANZ Export Finance Ltd, BNP Paribas, Calyon, Citibank NA, CSFB, DBS Bank, Erste Bank Der Oesterreichischen, Sparkassen AG (Honk Kong branch), KBC Finance (Ireland), Standard Chartered Bank, and Overseas Private Investment Corporation, New York.

The second suit, filed by IDBI as a mortgage trustee, is seeking a recovery certificate against the DPC for Rs 21.92 crore in respect of the securities created and payable by the DPC in favour of the Bank of America, Mumbai.

According to a DRT official, while in the first suit the foreign lenders have been made respondents (read defendants) along with DPC, they are basically formal parties to the suit who have similarly advanced funds to the DPC project.

"They have been made respondents in a bid to actually help in providing information to assist the recovery suit against the DPC," the official added.