In a serious setback for Reliance Group chairman Anil D. Ambani, the State Bank of India (SBI) has determined to go after him by classifying its loan account of Reliance Communications Ltd. (RCom) as fraud.
The nation’s largest public sector lender has additionally determined to report Mr. Ambani, the erstwhile director of RCom, to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) searching for acceptable motion as per the central financial institution’s tips.
The transfer follows a forensic audit by the financial institution and alternate of show-cause notices and responses spanning over a 12 months.
SBI, in a letter to RCom, intimated that its Fraud Identification Committee (FIC) had determined to classify the account as fraudulent and it had escalated the matter to the banking regulator for essential motion.
The FIC’s report has talked about about important irregularities, together with fund diversion and violations of the phrases and situations of the loan.
SBI’s motion is consistent with the RBI’s Master Direction on Frauds, which supplies a framework to take care of entities concerned in gaming the banking system. Mr. Ambani is anticipated to face regulatory and authorized motion together with civil and felony proceedings and the case is likely to be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for additional investigation. RCom, which had turned a non-performing asset (NPA), was admitted to the IBC course of in May 2018, and as of March 2025, had a complete debt of ₹48,216 crore.
Under Section 32 A of the IBC, the corporate is protected against any motion however its promoter faces legal responsibility and felony proceedings. SBI’s FIC on June 13, 2025 recognized a constant sample of monetary misconduct and located that RCom and its subsidiaries have been engaged in fund diversion and opaque transactions. The forensic audit had revealed massive scale diversion of the financial institution’s funds which have been channelled by associated entities, quickly parked in mutual funds and glued deposits and cycled by way of day-to-day transactions. Mr. Ambani’s legal professionals have denied the allegations.
“State Bank of India’s order referred in the RCom disclosure is shocking and has been passed ex-parte, and in violation of the principles of natural justice,” his counsel, Tarini Khurana, mentioned in response to SBI’s letter to RCom.
“SBI’s order is in direct contravention of various judgments of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and the Hon’ble Bombay High Court, as well as RBI guidelines,” she mentioned.
“SBI has not even responded to Mr. Ambani’s communication about the invalidity of the Show Cause Notice (SCN) for almost a year, and has not even provided the information forming the basis of their decision despite being repeatedly requested by Mr. Ambani, to enable him to respond to the SCN,” she mentioned.
“SBI has also not allowed Mr. Ambani an opportunity of personal hearing to make submissions against its allegations,” she added.
“SBI has withdrawn the show cause notice to other non-executive and independent directors of RCOM. Mr. Ambani was also a non-executive director and not involved in the day-to-day affairs of RCOM, and has been wrongly so categorised,” she additional mentioned. Mr. Ambani is pursuing the matter as legally suggested.
