Banks will have to pay price if any telco files for bankruptcy: SBI Chairman

NEW DELHI: SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar on Saturday said banks will “have to pay the price” in case any telecom firm files for bankruptcy, a day after the Supreme Court made it clear that telecom companies will have to pay the Rs 1.47 lakh crore in past dues.

The chief of the country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) said it is in the “wait-and-watch mode” and the onus of ensuring telecom companies’ compliance with the Supreme Court order lies with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) under the government.

“If there is a negative impact on any enterprise, it impacts a larger ecosystem, whether it is banks, whether it is employees, whether they are vendors, consumers, so everybody gets impacted.