Days after the Supreme Court directed the consortium of banks to release funds for construction of Amrapali housing projects, Bank of Baroda has sanctioned its share of Rs 300 crore, sources told Moneycontrol.
Bank of Baroda, the lead bank of the consortium of seven banks, has sanctioned Rs 300 crore, sources said, adding other banks are expected to follow suit.
There was no response from Bank of Baroda.
On February 21, the Supreme Court was informed by the court-appointed receiver, senior advocate R. Venkataramani, that several rounds of discussions with banks had taken place, the documentation work is completed and funds worth Rs 1,500 crore have been arranged.
The next date of hearing is on March 7.
The bench was also informed that Bank of Baroda would be the consortium’s lead bank. The court had directed the consortium to release the funds within a week after final approval.
Seven banks, which include Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, UCO Bank, Bank of India, State Bank of India, Indian Bank and Punjab and Sindh Bank, have formed a consortium to fund the stalled projects of Amrapali Group.
Amrapali Group’s ex-directors Anil Kumar Sharma, Shiv Priya, and Ajay Kumar are behind bars on the top court’s order since 2019, and multiple cases have been lodged against them for allegedly diverting homebuyers’ money.
The court had in 2019 asked the government’s construction arm to finish and deliver 38,159 flats by the erstwhile Amrapali Group by 2023 after several homebuyers sought its intervention, complaining about years of delay in handing over their homes.
The apex court on October 13, 2020, had permitted the court receiver to incorporate a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to enable flow of funds from SBICap for the completion of unfinished projects. SBICap has agreed to fund Rs 650 crore for around 7,000 stuck units.
For this, the company Amrapali Stalled Projects Investments Reconstruction Establishment (ASPIRE) has been floated. It consists of a court receiver, a forensic auditor and a chartered accountant. It is a not-for-profit company under Section 8 of Companies Act, 2013.
ASPIRE announced the sale of the units through an open draw in March 2021. As many as 20 of the 49 residential units spread across Amrapali projects in Noida and Greater Noida worth Rs 20 crore have been sold so far.
In November 2021, state-run NBCC had appointed Anarock Property Consultants as the channel partner to sell embattled real estate developer Amrapali’s Group’s 5,000 housing units in Noida and Greater Noida.
Sources also told Moneycontrol that 80 units worth around Rs 40 crore have so far been sold. “Almost 10 percent of the amount has been received. The units were put up for sale on February 7,” they said.
On July 23, 2019, the top court cancelled the registration of the Amrapali Group under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, and ousted it from its prime properties in NCR by nixing land leases for breaching buyers’ trust.
