Bank of Baroda to consider all borrower requests, including Adani, on merit

One of India’s biggest state-backed lenders will consider all borrower requests if the proposal meets the bank’s underwriting standards, a top official said when asked if it will consider lending to the beleaguered Adani Group.

“Irrespective of borrower, you have underwriting standards and you stick to them in good times as well as bad times,” Sanjiv Chadha, chief executive officer and managing director at Bank of Baroda, said in an interview in Mumbai.

Bank of Baroda’s exposure to the group is about a quarter of what is permitted under the central bank’s framework, Chadha had said earlier this month.

Elsewhere, State Bank of India, the nation’s top lender by assets, said it has an exposure of about 270 billion rupees ($3.3 billion) to companies in the Adani Group.