Adani Group's CFO, Jugeshinder Singh, said that the group was reducing its exposure to Indian banks, according to a report in Hindu Business Line. This comes despite the fact that Indian banks have not expressed any issues with lending money to the Adani Group.
In an interaction on Tuesday with institutional investors, Jugeshinder Singh said that while foreign banks took ‘credit decisions,’ Indian banks took ‘name decisions’, the report said.
Of all the debt the group has, over half is foreign debt in the form of overseas bonds and loans taken from foreign banks, and a fourth is from domestic banks. Singh said that the group's gross debt is $30 billion.
Earlier, many Indian banks, State Bank of India included, went public and said that they had no issues with the Adani Group loan exposure. The statement followed the crisis sparked by allegations of irregularities by Hindenberg Research, a US-based short seller. A few days ago, Bank of Baroda's CEO said that the bank was willing to continue lending to the Adani Group, the report added.
According to the report, some Indian banks had expressed reservations about lending more money to Adani Group companies. Some of the group's projects have experienced a cash crunch as a result of this.
In earlier reports, foreign banks, including Standard Chartered and Citibank, said that they have no plans to reduce their exposure to the group or stop their credit facilities. Foreign banks' debt exposure to the Adani Group has been gradually increasing over the years, the report said.
