Legality of Sale of NPAs Between Banks

Last week, the Supreme Court issued its ruling on whether non-performing assets/loans (NPAs) can be transferred between banks without the concurrence of the borrowers.

The case involved a transfer of NPAs (relating to the borrower, APS Star Industries Ltd.) from ICICI Bank to Kotak Mahindra Bank. The borrower was in liquidation. When the assignee Kotak Mahindra Bank sought before the Company Court to substitute its name as lender, the borrower objected on several grounds (including improper payment of stamp duty). The Company Court refused to recognize the assignee on account of improper presentation of the document of transfer. On appeal, a Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court upheld the Company Court’s decision, but on a different ground, i.e. that the assignment of debts by banks is not an activity permissible under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (BR Act).

On further appeal, the Supreme Court considered two issues:

1. Whether inter se transfer of debts between banks is an activity permissible under the BR Act?

2. Whether the assignee bank (Kotak Mahindra) is entitled to substitution in place of the original lender / assignor (ICICI Bank) in proceedings relating to liquidation of the borrower company?

On the first issue, the Court examined in detail the scheme and provisions of the BR Act and concluded that assignment of NPAs is within the purview of a bank’s permitted business activity:

– The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) can lay down parameters enabling banking companies to expand its business;

– Apart from accepting deposits and lending, the BR Act leaves ample scope for banks to venture into new businesses being subject to the control of RBI;

– Section 6(1)(n) of the BR Act “enables a banking company to do all things that are incidental or conducive to promotion or advancement of the business of the company”;

– The Guidelines on Purchase / Sale of Non Performing Financial Assets dated 13 July 2005 issued by the RBI allow banks to deal inter se in NPAs, which makes the activity a bona fide business. After going into the rationale for declaring a loan as an NPA, the court goes on to hold that the Guidelines “have been issued as a “restructuring measure” in order to avoid setbacks in the banking system”.

On the second issue, the Court distinguished between the transfer of (i) mere rights, which can be effected without concurrence of the borrower, and (ii) obligations, which requires a novation of the contract (thereby necessitating concurrence of the borrower):

– In the present case, it was found that the assignor is only transferring the rights under contract (which represent its assets);

– There is no transfer of obligations of the assignor towards the assignee, as they continue to be borne by the assignor;

– Hence the deed of assignment transferring the NPAs from ICICI Bank to Kotak Mahindra Bank is not unsustainable in law.

In addition, the court also ruled that the provisions of the SARFAESI Act, 2002 are not applicable to the case because that relates to a transfer of financial assets from banks to specific types of financial vehicles (such as securitization companies and asset reconstruction companies).

With its ruling on the limited questions before it, the Supreme Court remitted the matter to the Gujarat High Court for consideration of the other issues.

Ajay Shah’s Blog has a nice summary and analysis of the judgment, while this discussion on CNBC-TV18 also examines the impact of the decision on the securitization markets. As these demonstrate, in view of the Supreme Court’s limited mandate, it can be said to have merely covered the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the plethora of issues that arise from securitization of financial assets. More issues can be expected to be addressed through the future course the matter is likely to take.

Although securitization has acquired popularity in the Indian markets for over a decade now, the legal regime has been founded on age-old principles of law laid down in legislation such as the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, and the law relating to stamp duty and registration. While these laws do provide solid fundamentals in terms of legal concepts within which modern financial practices such as securitization can be worked, the judiciary has been presented with limited circumstances to interpret these legislation in the modern context. The opportunity that the current batch of cases presents the judiciary may well help clear the air on some of the issues.

Finally, when the SARFAESI Act was enacted in 2002, there was great expectation that such a law would create a modern framework to carry out securitization transactions. However, with its limited application (recognized by the Supreme Court in this latest decision), one cannot afford to turn a blind eye towards pre-existing law on transfer of financial assets.

About the author

Umakanth Varottil

Umakanth Varottil is a Professor at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. He specializes in corporate law and governance, mergers and acquisitions and cross-border investments. Prior to his foray into academia, Umakanth was a partner at a pre-eminent law firm in India.

1 comment

  • The term “Assignment” of debts/NPAs from one bank to another is a transfer per se. The Apex Court in its judgement of APS star (ibid) was persuaded to deal with two issues as narrated.And where the facts show that all companies were in Liquidation under the court Appointed Official Liquidator whereby teh Board of Directors becomes a functus officio and therefore whose job was to somehow begin the dissipation of all assets pari passu to its various set of creditors,Yet in any case the primordial issues were not addressed. India is a land of Laws and more laws and where amendments(confused for improvements ) are made as a running ritual.The laws which do get violated if Assignment was at all accepted inter alia are the Transfer of Property Act 1882, the States’ Stamp act read with the Registration act inasmuch as an Assignment deed is a ‘conveyance’ therefore covered as an instrument transferring valuable rights and amenable to stamp duty and registration charges on ad volerem rates and which is under the State subject. A violation thereof is ipso facto an attempt to defraud the State Exchequer. the Income Tax Act 1961 which defines Transfer in its widest connotation vide sec. 2 (47) includes the ‘assignment’ of Debts. Further reading sec 60 of the Act actually states that a transfer of rights to income ( which in this case will be of the assignee Bank) without the concurrent transfer of Assets(which remains with the assignor Bank) is impermissible, in any case the assignment deed and its implementation in its current avatar is defrauding the Union Exchequer. The Assignment in any case became permissible only through the RBI Notification/s which were collectively emphasizing upon the ‘sale /purchase’ of NPAs from one Bank to another. A ‘sale / purchase’ needs the sale consideration to be exchanged for it to fructify as a sale ex facie. The term assignment is actually being confused with the term ‘sale / purchase’. Again how will the traditionally well established Banks like the SBI who could not make thee recoveries of the said NPAs from the original borrower/ defaulters be able to ensure that the private Banks ( aggresively active like the Kotak Mahindra Bank) make the recoveries from the same set of Borrowers who then shall be given a different label of ‘originators’. but the Private Banks as Assignees will be happy … the Balance sheet will suddenly show the recoverable assets / current assets as Debtors burgeoning out. And then comes the balancing act– these Banks suddenly open kiosks all over the already crowded pavements trumpeting Offers of easy personal loans(at realtively high interest rates ) or for other ostensible reasons inclusive of House/ real estate. Indian fat weddings, Auto et al and where the KYc norms will be tweeted just a little by the highly pressurized target-achiever staff.Heres the recipe for Sub Prime Loan crisis, This financial holocaust has devoured Lehmann Bros . Grindlays, Fredy and Mackeys and a few economies to boot. the Assignment deed is an unworthuy import. A misadventure in law . And please do remember this Assignemne deed has its genesis in the laissez fais reign which introduced the Uniform Commercial Code of America where the foreboding first lines itself read..’Contrary to popular belief , Uniform commercial code is not Law.”

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