FactCheck: Did SBI waive off Adani's Rs 12,770 crore loan?
A post is widely circulated on social media that the State Bank of India (SBI) has waived off Rs 12,770 crore loan of Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL) for the Navi Mumbai International Airport Project (NMIAL).
By Newsmeter Network Published on 6 April 2022 12:53 PM GMT
Hyderabad: A post is widely circulated on social media that the State Bank of India (SBI) has waived off Rs 12,770 crore loan of Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL) for the Navi Mumbai International Airport Project (NMIAL).
Click here to view the post.
Fact Check:
The claim is misleading.
NewsMeter checked on the official website of Adani Enterprises and found a media statement. As per that, in July 2020, GVK sold its 50.5% stake in Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) to Adani Group's Adani Airport Holdings Limited (AAHL). Adani Group has also agreed to repay GVK's debt (its share in MIAL loans) to other companies.
Further, we checked GVK's official website and found that earlier, Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) won the contract for Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA), the second airport to be built in Mumbai. However, after the acquisition, Adani has taken over the construction of NMIA.
https://www.gvk.com/
The team looked for credible news related to the viral claim. We found a news report by Bloomberg. The headline reads, "SBI Underwrites Rs 12,770 Crore Debt For Adani's Navi Mumbai Airport."
It further read that Adani Group has concluded financing of the Navi Mumbai airport as the public sector lender State Bank of India underwrote the entire debt requirement of Rs 12,770 crore for the project.
However many news organizations also misinterpreted it. The matter went viral on social media after several major Telugu news outlets reported that SBI had written off Adani's debt of Rs 12,770 crore.
However, SBI did not waive the loan of Adani company. Underwriting means that they will guarantee the loan of Rs 12,770 crore to Adani. SBI will be liable if Adani companies fail to repay this loan. The definition of underwriting can be found here.
https://www.investopedia.com/
Here are the things that banks usually consider when offering to underwrite.
https://www.bajajfinserv.in/
Hence, the claim is misleading.
