Adani Crisis: Banking Sector Resilient And Stable, Says RBI

File Photo

New Delhi: Amid concerns over banks' exposure to the crisis-ridden Adani Group, the Reserve Bank on Friday said India's banking sector is resilient and stable, and the central bank maintains a constant vigil on the lenders. Responding to media reports expressing concern about the exposure of Indian banks to a "business conglomerate", the Reserve Bank said in a statement that it is constantly monitoring the banking sector.

However, the RBI did not name the Adani Group in the statement. Stocks of Adani Group firms have taken a massive beating on the bourses after US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations in a report, including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation at the Gautam Adani-led group. ()

Hindenburg released the report on January 24 -- the day on which Adani Enterprises' Rs 20,000-crore follow-on share sale opened for anchor investors. In its statement, the RBI said as per the current assessment, "the banking sector remains resilient and stable. Various parameters relating to capital adequacy, asset quality, liquidity, provision coverage, and profitability are healthy." ()

"As the regulator and supervisor, the RBI maintains a constant vigil on the banking sector and on individual banks with a view to maintain financial stability. The RBI has a Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC) database system where the banks report their exposure of Rs 5 crore and above which is used for monitoring purposes," the central bank added.

The RBI, the statement said, remains vigilant and continues to monitor the stability of the Indian banking sector. It further said banks are also in compliance with the Large Exposure Framework (LEF) guidelines issued by the RBI.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) earlier this week sought details about lenders' exposure to the Adani Group. On Wednesday, Swiss lender Credit Suisse stopped accepting bonds by Adani group companies as collateral for margin lending.

Three leading public sector banks have already disclosed their exposure to the Adani Group. The country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has an exposure of Rs 27,000 crore, while that of the second biggest Punjab National Bank (PNB) is at Rs 7,000 crore.