Standard Chartered attaches properties of Winsome Diamonds

Diamond company Winsome Diamonds, which has been in talks as a defaulter to banks, recently faced its immoveable assets in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Surat, Goa, Kolkata and Mumbai being attached by Standard Chartered Bank, reports say. The bank was one of the international banks and lender to the company. It lent money against L/Cs (letters of credit) provided by Indian banks, reports say.

Standard Chartered announced in a possession notice published in the media, that it had attached the properties as the company and its guarantors failed to repay Rs 4321.12 crore plus interest within 60 days of being served a demand notice on October 21, 2014, reports add.

There were around 15 Indian banks who provided standby letters of credit (SBLC) facilities in favor of bullion banks like Standard Bank of South Africa and Standard Chartered. The SBLC terms state that if the company fails to pay on time, the Indian lenders would have to make the payment to the bullion banks, reports add.

Winsome Diamonds owes over Rs 6,000 crore to a consortium of lenders, as per reports.