J Gopikrishnan
New Delhi / April 07, 2026
After reporting on the Large Defaulter List of 11 PSU Banks, The Pioneer is looking into the Large Defaulter List of major private banks. Among private banks, ICICI Bank tops the list with INR 2.78 lakh crores in large defaults. The bank has filed 3,654 recovery cases, as per the TransUnion CIBIL data up to February 2026.
Politically exposed company Lanco Group is the biggest defaulter of ICICI Bank with a whopping due of INR 46,210 crore. Lanco Group is owned by former Congress MP L Rajagopal, infamous for 2014 pepper spray incident in the Lok Sabha, protesting against the division of Andhra Pradesh. He is now based in America and Australia with his mining business.
To date, no case has been filed by CBI against Lanco Group for bank fraud, the majority of which involve PSU banks. Private bank frauds come under the ambit of CBI, after the landmark judgment of the Supreme Court in 2010, declaring that, though a bank is private, money belongs to the public.
The majority of the large defaulters of ICICI Bank got huge loans during the tenures of KV Kamat and Chanda Kochhar. During the period, many foreign companies owned by people of Indian origin were given huge loans.
As per data available data up to February 2026, ICICI Bank’s second big large defaulter is ABG Shipyard, with INR 37,100 crore loan, followed by GVK Coal Developers Singapore PTE (INR 32,857 crore), Abu Dhabi based BR Shetty’s NMC Health Care (INR 14,313 crore), Reddy brothers owned media firm Deccan Chronicle Holdings (INR 8,711 crore), Odisha based Adhunik Metaliks (INR 7,1023 crore), Mumbai based serial defaulter Pratibha Industries (INR 6,234 crore) and Karvy Stock Brokings (INR 6,079 crore). Indians own the foreign companies mentioned in the above list.
Curiously, in ICICI Bank’s monthly filings to the largest defaulter list with rating agency TransUnion CIBIL, there is no mention of Videocon. Videocon Group headed by Venugopal Dhoot and brother former Shiv Sena MP Rajkumar Dhoot were caught in 2018 for bribing then ICICI head Kochhar in 2012. According to the CBI, Videocon gave INR 325 crore (10 per cent commission) to Kochhar’s husband, Deepak Kochhar’s companies.
ICICI Bank was the lead bank in giving more than INR 40,000 crore in 2012 to Videocon’s Mozambique oil exploration project, along with many PSU Banks. In 2017, Videocon Group sold 10 per cent of the shares to ONGC for INR 2.47 Billion Dollars and made a huge profit, while still not repaying their loans.
It was later found that Kochhar’s brother-in-law Rajeev Kochhar (Husband Deepak’s brother) was involved in many loan bribery cases. His company Avista Advisory was appointed as debt consultant for many of ICICI Bank’s loans given to big corporations such as Videocon, GTL Group’s GTL Infra, Jaypee Group, Jindal Stainless Limited (JSL), Suzlon and Sandesara Group’s Sterling Biotech.
While PSU banks list Videocon as a major defaulter, it begs the question of why Videocon’s name has been avoided by ICICI Bank. Whether the loan was repaid, settled through One Time Settlement (OTS) process, written off or restructured is not clear. Debt-ridden Jaypee Infratech owes Rs. 5,813 crore to the bank in defaults. Now Gautam Adani and Vedanta’s Anil Agarwal are fighting each other to take over the group, which has several companies and large land parcels in Uttar Pradesh. Debt-sunken infra company Punj Lloyd also owes INR 5,340 crore to ICICI Bank.
Other companies, ranging between INR 2,000 crore to INR 5,000 crore dues with ICICI Bank are: Mumbai based Unity Infra Projects (INR 4,529 crore), Delhi based NCML Industries (INR 3,921 crore), Kolkata based Emta Coal (INR 3,847 crore), Mumbai based Ushdev International (INR 3,532 crore), Chennai based Alarcity Housing (INR 3,175 crore), Mumbai based Usher Agro (INR 3,076 crore) and Delhi based Dehradun Highways Project (INR 2,718 crore).
Fugitives Mehul Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi’s Gitanjali Gems plundered INR 2,609 crore from ICICI Bank. Other prominent defaulters are the Chennai based IVRCL Limited (INR 2,667 crore), Chandigarh based Lakshmi Energy & Foods (INR 2,508 crore), Shivvani Singapore Pte(INR 2,477 crore), PFS Shipping (INR 2,230 crore), Mumbai based Rajesh Business & Hotels (INR 2,224 crore), Gurugram based real estate company Ramprastha Promoters & Developers (INR 2,193 crore) and Chennai based Oceanic Tropical fruits (INR 2,124 crore).
The larger concern remains unchanged: irrespective of ICICI Bank’s private ownership, it deals with public deposits, manages public money, and operates under the regulatory oversight of the Reserve Bank of India. Repeated instances of glaring banking lapses raise serious questions about internal compliance, audit integrity, and regulatory vigilance. Accountability cannot remain diffused; the buck must stop somewhere, or public trust and hard-earned savings risk being taken for a ride.
Axis Bank chases to recover Rs. 66,338 cr from defaulters, files 3,209 cases
J Gopikrishnan
New Delhi / April 08, 2026
Axis Bank is looking to recover INR 66,338 crore from large defaulters. According to the data filed by the bank to the rating agency TransUnion CIBIL, up to February 2026, it has filed 3,209 suits to recover this huge money and has the second highest defaults among major private bankers on the list of Large Defaulters.
Among the largest defaulters of Axis Bank, Mumbai based Pratibha Industries tops with a huge dues of INR 13,795 crore This infrastructure and construction company has defaulted many banks and is facing insolvency cases. It is also under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for cheating banks. The CBI’s chargesheet details the role of company directors — Ajit Bhagwan Kulkarni, Ravi Kulkarni, Sunanda Datta Kulkarni and Sharad Prabhakar Deshpande — in defrauding banks by over-inflating their work contracts and siphoning of funds.
The second biggest defaulter of Axis Bank is Lavasa Corporation. Ajit Gulabchand headed company is facing insolvency cases. Gulabchand’s name, however, is missing from the list of personal guarantor for the loans. Instead, company directors are shown as personal guarantor in the five loans availed by Lavasa Corporation. It sold its controversial township near Pune, Lavasa, as a private planned city. It has a default of INR 3,767 crore with Axis Bank.
Third biggest defaulter of Axis Bank is international travel agency Cox & Kings with dues of INR 2,632 crore, followed by Bombay Rayon Fashions (INR 2,357 crore) and Gujarat NRE Coke (INR 2,431 crore).
Lanco Group and Anil Ambani’s Reliance Capital too appear in the list of large defaulters of Axis Bank. Former Congress MP L Rajagopal-led Lanco Kondapalli Power has defaulted the bank INR 2,024 crore and Reliance Capital has defaulted INR 1,772 crore. Other big defaulters are Odisha-based Coastal Projects (INR 1,624 crore), Kolkata based Ramsarup Industries (INR 1,143 crore), and Delhi based Educomp Solutions (INR 1,025 crore).
The defaulters in range of INR 600 crore-INR 1,000 crore are: Kolkata based Simplex Infrastructure & Simplex Projects (INR 863 crore), Mumbai based GOL Offshore (INR 736 crore), Vidarbha Industries Power (INR 667 crore), Hong Kong based Geodesic Technology Solutions (INR 657 crore), Jaypee Infratech (INR 636 crore) and Mumbai based Parekh Aluminex (INR 622 crore).
HDFC Bank’s Rs. 54,315 crore large defaulter load
J Gopikirshnan
New Delhi / April 09, 2026
Among the major private banks, HDFC Bank is in the third position of large defaulters list with very few big defaulters. As per the data available with TransUnion CIBIL, up to February 2026, HDFC Bank has large defaulter dues of INR 54,315 crore with 4,914 recovery cases pending.
The biggest defaulter of the bank is Delhi-based Feedback Energy Distribution and its linked firm, Feedback Infra, with total dues of INR 1,876 crore. Both the companies took 17 loans in total from the bank and now is facing insolvency cases. Second biggest defaulter is Tamil Nadu-based Sree Rengaraj Ispat Industries with a dues of INR 1,764 crore, through 10 loans.
Kolkata-based Riverbank Developers is the third biggest defaulter with INR 1,572 crore in dues, followed by Karvy Stock Broking (INR 1,558 crore), Mumbai-based Tycoons Avanti Projects (INR 1.085 crore), Himachal Pradesh based and Delhi registered Indian Technomac (INR 1,024 crore) and Noida based Daewoo Motors Indian Limited with a dues of INR 1,023 crore to HDFC bank through 14 loans.
Other major defaulters of HDFC Bank in the range of INR 600 crore to INR 1,000 crore are : Cuttack based Gupta Power Infrastructure (INR 976 crore), Mumbai based Tridhaatu Ventures (INR 903 crore), Bengaluru based Camson Bio Technologies (INR 854 crore) and Faridabad based CMI Limited (INR 758 crore). All these companies are now under insolvency or liquidation process.
Among the major private banks, unlike ICICI Bank with large defaulters having debt of INR 2.78 lakh crore, Axis Bank and HDFC is having less exposure to big defaults. Axis Bank is having total large defaulters with INR 66,338 crore and HDFC Bank is having total large defaulters with INR 54, 315 crroe. Large defaulter means those have dues above INR One crore and banks conducting civil suits in various courts.
ICICI Bank is having 42 companies with more than INR 1,000 crore defaults and topper is all PSU banks plunder Lanco Group. Axis Bank is having 10 and HDFC Bank is having seven companies with more than INR 1,000 crore defaults.