Industrialist Anil Ambani on Friday said he will study the Bombay High Court’s order dismissing his plea against the State Bank of India’s (SBI) fraud classification of his loan accounts before deciding on the next legal move.
“We are awaiting the order. Once we have reviewed it, we will evaluate the next course of action, as legally advised,” the company said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, a division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale rejected Ambani’s challenge to SBI’s June 2025 decision labelling Reliance Communications (RCom) and his accounts as fraudulent, citing diversion of funds, breach of covenants and related-party transactions.
The bank subsequently informed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and moved the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Ambani, represented by senior advocates Darius Khambata and Prateek Seksaria, had argued that he was unfairly singled out despite being a non-executive director and was not given sufficient opportunity to present his defence.
The High Court, however, ruled that SBI had acted in line with the RBI’s July 2024 Master Directions on fraud classification.
Notably, the same bench had earlier stayed a similar order by Canara Bank against Ambani, but the matter was later disposed of when the bank withdrew its fraud tag.
His challenge to Union Bank of India’s decision was also turned down, with the Bench directing him to approach the RBI.
SBI was represented by Senior Advocate Aspi Chinoy and a Saraf & Partners team led by Mohit Saraf.
The CBI has already registered a case based on SBI’s complaint of an alleged ₹2,929.05 crore loss and searched properties linked to Reliance Communications and Ambani’s residence.