According to Anil Ambani, chairman of Reliance Group, the lawsuits filed against him by State Bank of India (SBI) and three Chinese lenders were not related to personal borrowings but corporate loans. Further, Ambani added that that he is defending himself against the lenders’ claims and the resolution of Reliance Communications (RCOM) will settle the matter.
On May 22, 2020, a UK court ordered Ambani to pay $717 million to three Chinese banks within 21 days, after ruling that a personal guarantee which the Indian businessman had disputed was binding.
Further, Ambani added that the guarantee on the basis of which the claim was made was admittedly not signed by him. In actual fact, he had only signed a power of attorney limited to executing a non-binding letter of comfort to the Chinese Banks. His defence however has been shut out by the UK courts on his inability to personally deposit a sum of $100 million.
In his address to the shareholders, Ambani, further, committed that the promoters will raise stake in Reliance Infrastructure and the company would be debt free by the end of the current fiscal.
As per Ambani, the company has assets of over Rs 650 billion, networth of over Rs 110 billion and cashflow of over Rs 50 billion. In addition to that, it also has Rs 600 billion of receivables stuck in regulatory and arbitration matters which are pending for as many as 5-10 years.
