Amid criticism from Opposition parties over its decision to provide a $ 1 billion loan to the Adani Group for a coal mine project in Australia, the State Bank of India (SBI) on Thursday said the money would be disbursed only if the company’s outstanding credit is within limit.
The loan will be given only after the SBI Board takes a call, said Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya. “... we have entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), but the project will now have to be assessed, my board has to take a call, it has to be within credit limit of the company… All of that will get checked,” Ms. Bhattacharya told reporters.
During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Australia visit, the Adani Group announced an MoU with the SBI for a $ 1-billion credit facility for its coal mine project in Queensland.
Congress communication in-charge Ajay Maken questioned the SBI’s decision to provide the loan when several international banks had ruled out funding the project. He made this claim on the basis of a report in The Guardian on Monday.
On the project’s viability, Ms. Bhattacharya said that since India was growing, the requirement for coal would only grow.
The Congress also flagged Union Minister of State for Power Piyush Goyal’s recent statement that India would not need to import coal after 2017 and wondered why a public sector bank was facilitating import of coal. To this, Ms. Bhattacharya said: “Can you imagine a world where no coal is burnt? That will not happen…”
The CPI(M), too, questioned “such largesse’’ when serious questions have been raised about the project.
