The promoter plans to use this amount to enter into a one-time settlement with a group of 22 lenders, to which the Mardia group owes over Rs 1,450 crore (Rs 14.5 billion).
At a meeting of lenders held in Mumbai on August 30, Rasiklal Mardia, the promoter of Mardia Chemicals, offered to bring in the NRI buyer.
Said a bank executive who was present at the meeting, "Mardia assured us that if all the lenders agree to settle for the compromise proposal, the money would be paid over a one to two-year period."
The banks present at the meeting were ICICI Bank, which is the biggest lender, Bank of India, Union Bank of India, UTI Bank, IDBI Bank and HSBC. Mardia refused to comment on the matter.
A consensus is yet to emerge among the banks on whether to accept the proposal.
While ICICI Bank is of the opinion that the matter should be settled in court, some other banks gave an in principle nod to the proposal since they feared that the value of the factories would go down further if the settlement took longer.
Another issue to be sorted out is the sharing of Rs 80
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