Delhi-based financial services company Religare Enterprises has said that its NBFC arm Religare Finvest Limited (RFL) has itself been a “victim of fraud” perpetuated by its former promoters and management. Religare Enterprises chairperson and RFL CMD Dr Rashmi Saluja said that the company has challenged the process of classifying RFL as ‘fraud’ account and initiated legal and corrective measures regarding the same. She further noted that they are hopeful of getting rid of the fraud tag by lenders at the soonest in order to implement the debt restructuring plan vis-à-vis RFL wherein REL will continue as a promoter. “Our Company Religare Finvest Limited (RFL) has itself been victim of fraud perpetuated by its erstwhile promoters and management. We have challenged the whole process of RFL being classified as ‘fraud’ account and legal and corrective actions with respect to the same have already been initiated,” Dr Saluja said. She further underscored, “Therefore, we are hopeful that we would be able to get this fraud tagging by lenders removed at the soonest for successful implementation of Debt Restructuring Plan with REL continuing as its promoter.” For the unversed, Religare Finvest has been barred from undertaking fresh business as it is under corrective action plan (CAP) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) since January 2018 due to weak financial health. In line with its debt restructuring plan, the company paid Rs 400 crore to lenders on March 31, 2021. “Entre debt restructuring (DR) plan should see light of the day in two months… this time Religare Enterprises Limited (REL) itself is proposing DR plan in which case we may not need “fit and proper” approval of RBI as REL is registered entity with the RBI,” Saluja told news agency PTI. The earlier DR plan was rejected by the RBI in March 2020 since the suitor – TCG Advisory Private Limited, a part of The Chatterjee Group—for the RFL was not found to be ‘fit and proper’ by the regulator. Saluja said that once the latest debt restructuring is done, the next process would be to approach the regulator to consider removing the company from the CAP. RFL has repaid close to Rs 7,500 crore since 2018 and the company is also actively pursuing recovery cases like Lakshmi Vilas Bank (now DBS India). (With agency inputs)