PSU banks to suffer on loans extended to 2G license cancelled telecom firms: Moody

28 Feb 2012 Evaluate

As per the credit rater Moody, Indian banks, particularly PSU lenders, will suffer losses on loans to the telecom firms whose licenses were cancelled by the Supreme Court in the 2G spectrum allocation case. It has observed that the difficult operating environment will continue to put pressure on the asset quality and ratings of banks. 

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court cancelled 122 2G spectrum licenses granted by former telecom minister A Raja on the ground that they were issued in a 'totally arbitrary and unconstitutional' manner. This ruling, as per Moody, is will most certainly transfer into losses for the exposed banks because these loans were extended mainly to small operators, many of which had no sources of income other than the activities their licenses allowed them to conduct. In most cases, the only collateral backing the loans, were the very licenses that are now no longer valid.

The lending banks have an exposure of over Rs 10,000 crore to the telecom companies which were granted 2G licence in 2008. However since the amount is only a fraction of the total loans disbursed by the banks, the exposure might prove to be immaterial. 

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