Four banks come on board to infuse funds into Amrapali housing projects

NEW DELHI: Four banks–Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, UCO Bank and Punjab & Sindh Bank — have come on board to infuse money in SC- monitored construction of Amrapali housing projects while State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank on Monday assured the Supreme Court that they would take the decision by end of the week.

Appearing before a bench of Justices U U Lalit and Bela M Trivedi, senior advocate and court-appointed receiver R Venkataramani informed that four banks have taken the decision and the consortium documents have also been finalised and approved by banks.

Six banks—Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Bank of India, State Bank of India, UCO Bank and Punjab & Sindh Bank–had agreed way back in November to infuse money in Amrapali’s projects but they have been dithering in taking a final decision in the last four months.

Earlier, the banks were reluctant in getting involved in the projects but they decided to infuse money in the projects after getting assurance from the apex court about the security of their investment.

The release of the amount for Amrapali projects would expedite the construction work being done by NBCC as there is a fund crunch. The total estimated cost for construction of all housing projects is pegged at Rs 8,500 crore by NBCC and the amount recoverable from home-buyers and buyers of commercial areas is Rs 3,700 crore. TNN