According to a recent press report from ICRA, a credit rating agency, the lenders are anticipated to restructure the loans amounting to Rs. 1 lakh crore over the next 12 – 18 months, keeping in mind the rising interests and input costs and project delays affecting the companies severely.
Mr. Naresh Takkar, the Managing Director of ICRA told that sectors such as infrastructure – power generation units, electricity board, roads and telecom – textiles and airlines need to be addressed first for debt recast.
The power sector which is highly capital intensive is being much affected in terms of cost and project delay as a result of increasing input prices and delays. Both power and telecom sectors which are highly capital intensive are exposed to large loans.
The amount estimated is the combination of proposals dealt at the levels of banks and sent to the Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) forum.
There has been an increase in the debt amount referred to CDR forum to Rs. 34, 562 crore which increased six times in the first six months of 2011 – 2012 compared to the corresponding period of previous year. The number of companies referred to the forum has risen to 35 from 21.
The forum takes up the fresh cases and does not end with that because there are some viable units which were restructured before 2008 due to some temporary cash flow problem are still showing signs of high risk of forming large NPAs.