Big loans, big defaults: ICICI tops private bank default list at INR 2.78 lakh cr

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 division of Andhra Pradesh. He is now based in America and Australia with his mine business.

Till date no case has been filed by CBI against Lanco Group for bank frauds, majority of which involve PSU banks. Private bank frauds come under the ambit of CBI, after the landmark judgment of Supreme Court in 2010, declaring, though bank is private, money belongs to public.

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). The foreign companies mentioned in the above list are owned by Indians.

Curiously, in ICICI Bank’s monthly flings to largest defaulter list with rating agency TransUnion CIBIL, there is no mention of Videocon. Videocon Group headed 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 its 10 per cent of the shares to ONGC for INR 2.47 Billion Dollars and made 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 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 re-structured 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 is 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 nephew Nirav Modi’s Gitanjali Gems plundered INR 2,609 crore from ICICI Bank. Other prominent defaulters are :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).