KTR accused Revanth Reddy of orchestrating a ₹10,000 crore bond deal by mortgaging 400 acres of Kancha Gachibowli land, despite TGIIC lacking legal ownership or title
Published Apr 13, 2025 | 1:34 AM ⚊ Updated Apr 13, 2025 | 1:34 AM
Sridhar Babu refutes KTR’s scam allegation over ₹10,000 Cr bond deal
Synopsis: Telangana Minister Sridhar Babu has issued a detailed rebuttal to BRS leader KT Rama Rao’s claim of a ₹10,000 crore land scam. KTR alleged the government raised bonds by mortgaging 400 acres of Kancha Gachibowli land without proper ownership. He accused Chief Minister Revanth Reddy of orchestrating the deal despite Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation lacking legal title to the land
Telangana Industries Minister Sridhar Babu Duddilla has given a point-by-point rebuttal to BRS working president KT Rama Rao’s allegation that Telangana government had perpetrated a scam in raising of ₹10,000 crore in bonds by the pledging of the 400 acres of Kancha Gachibowli lands abutting the University of Hyderabad’s sprawling campus.
* Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy is the architect of the financial fraud in raising a loan of ₹10,000 crore in the form of bonds from ICICI Bank by mortgaging 400 acres of Kancha Gachibowli lands.
* The Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC), which mortgaged the land, had no legal title, as the land was neither transferred nor mutated to TGIIC. Only a GO was issued in June 2024, GO (No. 54), stating that land was allocated to the TGIIC.
* ICICI Bank issued the loan in the form of bonds without verifying the ownership of land and it illegal.
* There is a 1996 Supreme Court ruling that a land qualifies as forest land if it has forest-like characteristics (over 0.4 percent green canopy), which applies to Kancha Gachibowli lands.
* The state government valued the 400 acres at ₹30,000 crore (₹75 crore per acre) in June 2024 through a Government Order (GO).
* Within five months, the valuation was reduced to ₹52 crore per acre (₹20,800 crore total) by one agency.
* Later it was brought down to ₹41.6 crore per acre (₹16,640 crore total) in an open-market assessment.
* It is a deliberate move to transfer the land to the Chief Minister’s associates at a lower price.
* The Stamps and Registration Department lists the market value in Kancha Gachibowli at ₹26,900 per square yard, translating to ₹5,239.84 crore for 400 acres, pointing to the inflated initial valuation.
* ICICI Bank indulged in gross negligence in approving the ₹10,000 crore loan without verifying land ownership or conducting due diligence.
* He alleged involvement of a BJP MP in fixing a brokerage firm to facilitate raising of the loan. He named it as Trust Investment Advisors, and as a quid pro quo, the MP was promised benefits. He, however, did not name the MP.
* The state paid ₹169 crore to Trust Investment Advisors for facilitating the transaction.
* Of the ₹10,000 crore loan, only ₹5,000 crore was used for welfare schemes like Rythu Bandhu, while the rest was used to pay commissions to contractors and loyalists in return for payment of kickbacks.
* KTR demanded inquiry by central agencies, including the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
* The BRS is resorting to AI-fabricated lies and misinformation to obstruct development.
* The state owns the land in question (400 acres). It won the case in the Supreme Court and took back the land from a private player, IMG Bharata.
* The land was allocated to IMG Bharata by the then TDP government in 2004. After a protracted legal battle in Telangana High Court and Supreme Court, the state government won the case and got back the land last year.
*TGIIC is the state government’s arm through which it reached out to financial markets for raising funds.
* It followed the approved norms, including those of the RBI and other established precedents that have to be complied with in raising capital.
* TGIIC appointed iVAS, a subsidiary of CBRE, an IBBI-certified valuation consultant, in October 2024. It certified that the value of the land was ₹20,503 crore.
* The land is litigation-free, post the Supreme Court order. If anyone says the land does not belong to the state government, he is resorting to contempt of court, and it is a direct attack on the development prospects of the state. It will be treated as conspiracy to stall the massive job creation exercise.
* Neither the TGIIC applied for any loan from any bank, including the ICICI Bank, nor has ICICI Bank given any loan to the TGIIC. It is a total lie. The government will use its legal instruments against any and all those who are attempting to mislead the people on the issue.
* TGIIC has issued rated, listed, senior secured taxable, redeemable non-convertible debentures on a private placement basis, in response to which several investment and mutual funds have expressed confidence and invested in the bonds issued by the corporation. ICICI Bank is just a partner bank for the entire transaction.
* The government raised ₹10,000 crore as per RBI guidelines, following all the laws of the land, both central and state.
* The state has issued a direct debit mandate in favour of the RBI for the bonds issue of ₹9,995.28 crore, which the RBI has duly confirmed.
* The question of the bank representatives visiting the field does not arise since no loan was taken on behalf of the investors. A debenture trustee had duly conducted an independent valuation of the land and verified that the land is suitable as collateral for the said levels of valuation.
* The brokerage firm was selected based on a competitive bidding process and was paid as per standard industry norms.
*The BRS is politicising each and every issue for no reason. They are like Luddite actions.
The ICICI Bank, Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra (E), Mumbai, in a press release on 11 April, said that they had not provided any mortgage loan to Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC),
“No land has been mortgaged with us in relation to this bond issuance. We acted only as an account bank to TGIIC for receipt of the bond issuance money and interest servicing,” the bank said.
(Edited by Ananya Rao)
