State Bank of India (SBI) has classified the loan account of Reliance Communications along with promoter-director Anil D Ambani as ‘fraud’ and is in the process of lodging a complaint with investigating agency CBI, Parliament was informed on Monday.

The entities were labelled as fraud on 13 June 2025 in accordance with the RBI’s Master Directions on Fraud Risk Management and Bank’s Board-approved Policy on Classification, Reporting & Management of Frauds, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

“On 24 June 2025, the bank reported classification of fraud to RBI, and is also in the process of lodging complaint with CBI,” he stated.

Further, on 1 July 2025, as part of disclosure compliance, Resolution Professional of RCom informed the Bombay Stock Exchange regarding fraud classification by the bank, news agency PTI reported. 

The credit exposure of SBI in RCom includes fund-based principal outstanding amount of Rs 2,227.64 crore along with the accrued interest and expenses with effect from 26 August 2016 and non-fund based bank guarantee of Rs 786.52 crore, he said.

RCom is currently undergoing Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. The resolution plan was approved by the Committee of Creditors and filed with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Mumbai on 6 March 2020, and NCLT approval is awaited.

The bank has also initiated Personal Insolvency Resolution Process under IBC against Anil D Ambani and the same is being heard by NCLT, Mumbai. The bank had earlier classified the account and promoter Anil D Ambani as ‘fraud’ on November 10, 2020 and filed a complaint with the CBI on 5 January 2021.

However, the complaint was returned in view of the ‘status quo’ order dated 6 January 2021 by the High Court, Delhi. 

Meanwhile, a Supreme Court judgement dated 27 March 2023 in State Bank of India & Others Vs Rajesh Agarwal & Others case mandated that lenders provide borrowers with an opportunity to represent before classifying their accounts as fraud, PTI reported.

Accordingly, the fraud classification in the account was reversed by the bank on 2 September 2023. 

The fraud classification process was re-run and the account was again classified as ‘fraud’ after following the due process, as per RBI circular dated 15 July 2024.

Interestingly, Canara Bank on 10 July informed the Bombay High Court that it has withdrawn its order classifying a loan account of Reliance Communications linked to Anil Ambani as ‘fraudulent’. Following this, the legal bench comprising Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice Neela Gokhale disposed of Anil Ambani's petition challenging the bank's order, saying that nothing survives in it. 

Earlier, the state-owned lender had claimed that the loan of Rs 1,050 crore was “routed” to a group company to pay off other liabilities to connected or related companies.