The IDBI Bank Officials' Case Over the Kingfisher Loan

“Loan sanctions by IDBI Bank would follow the bank's own credit-appraisal norms, including assessment of the borrower's credit rating and repayment capacity, before any short-term or working-capital loan is disbursed.”

— IDBI Bank, a public sector bank, through its then chairman and managing director and other sanctioning officials, Public sector lender extending short-term and working capital loans to Kingfisher Airlines · 1 October 2009

This reflects the standard credit-appraisal obligation on a public sector bank's sanctioning committee, rather than a specific IDBI internal policy document this entry has reviewed directly.

Loans to Kingfisher Airlines would be sanctioned only after standard credit appraisal, consistent with the airline's actual credit rating and financial health, without undue favour to the borrower.

IDBI Bank's internal credit-sanction norms and RBI prudential lending guidelines for public sector banks.

In force from 1 October 2009

The CBI alleges that IDBI Bank's then chairman and managing director, Yogesh Agarwal, along with other bank officials, sanctioned loans exceeding ₹950 crore to Kingfisher Airlines despite the airline's weak financial record and poor credit rating, with one tranche reportedly rushed through following a meeting held on a public holiday. The CBI registered its case around 2013, raided Mallya's and IDBI's offices in October 2015, and arrested Agarwal, who was granted bail by the Bombay High Court in March 2017. The CBI filed its chargesheet against Mallya and bank officials in January 2017, in a matter reported at the time as involving roughly ₹1,300 crore in Kingfisher-related IDBI exposure. In March 2023, the CBI filed a supplementary chargesheet naming former IDBI general manager Buddhadev Dasgupta, alleging he conspired with colleagues and Mallya over the sanction and disbursement of a ₹150 crore short-term loan in October 2009. This case against IDBI's own officials is distinct from — and proceeds alongside — the separate criminal and civil proceedings against Vijay Mallya over the airline's default to its wider 17-bank lending consortium.

As of 23 March 2023

1. 1 Oct 2009Announcement
   IDBI sanctions short-term loan

   A ₹150 crore short-term loan to Kingfisher Airlines is sanctioned, later cited in a 2023 supplementary chargesheet.

2. 1 Jan 2013Status
   CBI opens preliminary inquiry

   The CBI begins examining IDBI Bank's loans to Kingfisher Airlines.

3. 10 Oct 2015Milestone
   CBI raids Mallya and IDBI offices

   Raids are conducted at Mallya's residences, Kingfisher offices, and in connection with the IDBI loan case.

4. 24 Jan 2017Milestone
   CBI files chargesheet

   The CBI charges Mallya and IDBI officials, alleging the loans were sanctioned despite the airline's poor credit rating.

5. 17 Mar 2017Status
   Yogesh Agarwal granted bail

   The Bombay High Court grants bail to IDBI's former chairman and another former employee.

6. 23 Mar 2023Revision
   Supplementary chargesheet against Buddhadev Dasgupta

   The CBI names a former IDBI general manager over the 2009 short-term loan sanction.

This is a stub entry. The CBI has chargesheeted IDBI's former chairman and other bank officials, alongside Vijay Mallya, and continues to add supplementary chargesheets as recently as 2023; this investigation has not established a final trial verdict for any accused.

• This is a stub entry. The case's current trial status, more than a decade after the CBI's initial inquiry, has not been established.
• The precise total IDBI exposure figure varies across contemporaneous reports (from roughly ₹950 crore to ₹1,300 crore); this entry has not reconciled the discrepancy against a primary chargesheet.
• It is not established whether any IDBI official named in this case has faced trial, conviction, or acquittal.