The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has for the first time released a list of top 30 wilful defaulters in response to an RTI application.

The list contains the names of usual suspects with absconder Mehul Choksi's Geetanjali Gems topping the list, followed by REI Agro, Winsome Diamonds, Ruchi Soya, Rotomac Global, Kingfisher Airlines, Kudos Chemie, Zoom Developers, Deccan Chronicle and ABG Shipyard in the top 10.

The RBI's response to an RTI application came four years after the Supreme Court had first directed the central bank to disclose a list of India's wilful defaulters.

In response to a Right to Information (RTI) application filed by a private digital media outlet, RBI released the list of 30 major wilful defaulters.

For many years, RBI had declined to give this information arguing that it would be against the economic interests of the country and that its regulatory powers over banks disallowed it from doing so.

The wilful defaulter data released by the RBI came from a large centralised banking system database called Central Repository of Information on Large Credits. It is a pool of data on the credit information of all borrowers who have an exposure of Rs 5 crore and above.

The list includes Gitanjali Gems with a default amount of Rs 5,044 crore, REI Agro (Rs 4,197 crore), Winsome Diamonds (Rs 3,386 crore), Ruchi Soya (Rs 3,225 crore), Rotomac Global (Rs 2,844 crore), Kingfisher Airlines (Rs 2,488 crore), Kudos Chemie (Rs 2,326 crore), Zoom Developers (Rs 2,024 crore), Deccan Chronicle (Rs 1,951 crore), ABG Shpyard (Rs 1,875 crore), Forever Precious Jewellery (Rs 1,718 crore), Surya Vinayak Industries (Rs 1,628 crore), S Kumars Nationwide (Rs 1,581 crore), Gili India (Rs 1,447 crore), Siddhi Vinayak Logistics (Rs 1,349 crore), VMC Systems (Rs 1,314 crore), Gupta Coal India (Rs 1,235 crore), Nakshatra Brands (Rs 1,148 crore), Indian Technomac (Rs 1,091 crore), Shree Ganesh Jewellery House (Rs 1,085 crore), Jain Infraprojects (Rs 1,076 crore), Surya Pharmaceutical (Rs 1,065 crore), Nakoda Limited (Rs 1,028 crore), KS Oils (Rs 1,026 crore), Coastal Projects (Rs 984 crore), Hanung Toys (Rs 949 crore), First Leasing (Rs 929 crore), Concast Steel (Rs 828 crore), Action Ispat (Rs 888 crore) and Diamond Power (Rs 869 crore).

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)