V Ramachandra, former chief general manager of Canara Bank, was named by the Reserve Bank on Tuesday to the Advisory Committees of Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited (SIFL) and Srei Equipment Finance Limited (SEFL).
The RBI created a three-member advisory council to assist the administrator of the two crisis-ridden enterprises after overriding the boards of SIFL and SEFL in October 2021.
“Consequent upon the resignation of Shri Farokh N Subedar from the Advisory Committee with effect from January 31, 2023, it has been decided to appoint Shri V Ramachandra as a member of the Advisory Committee with immediate effect,” the central bank said in a statement.
It was also stated that the Advisory Committee will advise the Administrator on the operations of SIFL and SEFL during the corporate bankruptcy resolution process.
Venkat Nageshwar Chalasani, former deputy managing director of State Bank of India, and T T Srinivasaraghavan, former managing director of Sundaram Finance Limited, are the committee’s other two members.
The RBI filed applications for the beginning of a corporate insolvency resolution process against SIFL and SEFL before the National Company Law Tribunal’s Kolkata Bench in October 2021. (NCLT).
Following the NCLT’s acceptance of the petitions, the RBI determined that the three-member committee “shall continue as the advisory committee” established under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Insolvency and Liquidation Proceedings of Financial Service Providers and Application to Adjudicating Authority) Rules, 2019.
Srei Group owes over Rs 18,000 crore to approximately 15 lenders, including Axis Bank, UCO Bank, and State Bank of India, in addition to nearly Rs 10,000 crore in external commercial borrowings and bonds.
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Srei Equipment Finance claimed in a regulatory filing earlier this month that its administrator had received a report from the transaction auditor about several fraudulent transactions in 2019-20 and 2020-21, with a monetary impact of about Rs 3,025 crore on the Srei group.
