NEW DELHI: Domestic lenders run the risk of taking a significant haircut if things turn ugly for the risky corporate groups, which account for one-fourth of the whopping Rs 30.2 lakh crore corporate debt outstanding at last count.An asset funding study on top 500 corporate houses showed out of the Rs 7.4 lakh crore debt held by these ‘risky’ businesses, nearly 54 per cent is with vulnerable entities, meaning companies that may find it difficult to service their debt.“This quantum is at write-off risk,” Religare Institutional Research said in a note.The study looked at the top 500 companies for their incremental debt deployed towards funding productive and/or non-productive assets during FY11-FY16.While safe and cautious entities were seen adding incremental debt over this period to build fixed assets that can generate higher return on capital employed ( ROCE ), risky companies made significant investment in non-productive assets which are likely to generate lower returns in the medium term.“Such entities include firms operating in infrastructure and construction, sugar, consumer durables, engineering & equipment, airlines and trading sectors. They need to address the structural mismatch in cash flows and relatively higher shares of non-productive assets before banks implementS4A (Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets),” the brokerage said.Besides, there were many non-vulnerable corporate entities with a relatively high proportion of non-productive assets – Rs 3.4 lakh crore or 10 per cent of the total debt – which could slip into the vulnerable category, if their credit profiles worsen with incremental debt.That said, as many as 234 companies with total debt of Rs 14.3 lakh crore, or 47 per cent of the total, are well positioned due to strong fundamentals and would drive revival in private sector investment.“These companies primarily operate in the auto and automotive, cement, chemicals and pharmaceutical sectors,” the broking firm said. Real estate and telecom firms, meanwhile, could use equity investments to deleverage and improve their capital structures.