RBI asks banks to give details of their exposure to Satyam

10 January 2009

The Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to submit details about their exposure to Satyam, which had spread its loan portfolio across five banks - Bank of Baroda, BNP Paribas, ICICI, Citibank and HSBC.

While submitting details of their exposures to the company, all of them have claimed ''negligible exposure'' to the beleaguered company.

Besides fund-based exposure, banks could also have non-fund based exposures like forex derivative contracts, performance guarantees, etc or via investment in Satyam's shares.

The Hyderabad office of the Registrar of Companies did not find any bank statements at any of the three Satyam offices in and around the city that were raided in the morning. The offices have since been sealed.

Companies have to keep bank statements for the current and preceding years at their registered offices. It is suspected that the files vanished, as they would have given away the fraud, rendering Raju and his accomplices liable to immediate penal action.

State Bank of India (SBI) is reported to have given an unsecured loan of between Rs150-200 crore to Raju  six months ago.