State Bank of India is examining a possibility of Essar Steel loans, said Managing Director Dinesh Kumar Khara, after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) rejected Ruia family's bid for the insolvent company.

"Now since there is a positive development, there is a definitive development which has taken place in the yesterday’s judgement, so we can revisit our earlier stance, where we wanted to allot the value which was stuck in this asset,” said Khara.

In terms of rethinking of selling of Essar loans, he said, “I think Ruias are quite open to taking a call on the subject because our anxiety was in terms of realising the money at the earliest and the kind of delays, which were taking place."

“We will evaluate at the point of time how the circumstances unwind and then depending upon that, we will take an appropriate call,” he added.

Speaking about not getting enough demand, Khara said, “All these things are commercial considerations. Let us wait and watch. As a lender, at some point of time, we have to think about how to get the money out also."

The NCLT Ahmedabad rejected Essar Steel promoter Ruia family's plea to repay debt, effectively scuttling the group's attempt to hold on to the company and boosting the chances of lenders selling it to a new owner, possibly ArcelorMittal.

The resolution professional will now present the ArcelorMittal plan before the NCLT for approval. ArcelorMittal had offered to pay creditors Rs 42,000 crore to take over Essar Steel that faced insolvency proceedings to recover Rs 50,800 crore of unpaid loans.

Welcoming the order ArcelorMittal said the ruling by the NCLT protects the integrity of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and ensures its legitimacy as a rules based law.

The Essar group hinted at challenging the verdict, citing the last week's Supreme Court order that upheld the August 2018 amendment to the IBC law by adding Section 12A which allows creditors to take the company out of insolvency proceedings and allows out-of-court settlement with an upfront payment of the dues.

First Published:Jan 30, 2019 9:07 AM IST