Mumbai– In a major setback for industrialist Anil Ambani, the Bombay High Court on Friday dismissed his plea challenging the State Bank of India’s decision to classify his loan account as “fraud.”
A bench comprising Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale upheld SBI’s action, ruling that the bank had complied with the Reserve Bank of India’s July 2024 Master Directions on fraud classification. The court rejected Ambani’s claims of procedural unfairness and arbitrariness.
SBI had declared the loan accounts of Reliance Communications (RCom) and its promoter Anil Ambani as fraudulent in June 2025, citing diversion of funds, breach of covenants, and related-party transactions. Following this decision, the bank also approached the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for further action.
Ambani argued that he was merely a non-executive director of RCom and had been unfairly singled out. He also contended that he was not given adequate opportunity to present his defense. The court, however, found no merit in his contentions.
Earlier this month, Bank of Baroda also declared the loan accounts of RCom and Anil Ambani as “fraud” in an exchange filing. This classification applied to loans taken before the company entered corporate insolvency resolution proceedings (CIRP).
Once a prominent player in India’s telecom industry, RCom entered insolvency proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016. The company has since maintained that the loans in question predated the insolvency process and should be resolved as part of a resolution plan or liquidation under the IBC.
RCom is currently managed by resolution professional Anish Niranjan Nanavaty. Anil Ambani no longer serves as a director of the company. (Source: IANS)
