Mumbai: ICICI Bank has initiated steps to recover around Rs 700 crore from the Gitanjali group. The private lender has slapped a notice on three entities - Gitanjali Gems, Nakshatra Brands and Nakshatra World Ltd.

Apart from Mehul Choksi (the guarantor in two companies), there are other group firms who are the guarantors of the loans.

ICICI Bank has in a public notice asked the borrowers or the guarantors to pay the outstanding amount with interest within a period of 60 days of the notice, failing which the lender will enforce the security provided to realise its dues.

The bank had issued notices to these three companies on May 17 under Section 13 (2) of the Securitisation and Re-construction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002.

However, as the notices returned unserved, ICICI Bank has now put out a public notice.

ICICI Bank added that it was taking this step as the borrowers have defaulted in payment of principal and interest of the loans obtained by them and consequently it has classified these advances as non-performing assets.

ICICI Bank is not the only lender to slap a notice on the group. Reports say Canara Bank has issued a notice against the three firms to recover almost Rs 250 crore.

Choksi and Nirav Modi had left India weeks before the Rs 13,000-crore scam at Punjab National Bank (PNB) came to light. Choksi recently moved an application seeking the cancellation of a non-bailable warrant against him. He also told the court that he cannot travel because of his medical condition.

The country's largest private sector bank has listed various assets that include land parcels, residential flats and offices in Mumbai, Raigad, Calcutta and Hyderabad.

Among the three firms, while Gitanjali Gems has an outstanding of more than Rs 482 crore, Nakshatra Brands and Nakshatra World owe more than $11 million and Rs 123 crore, respectively.

Some of the assets that ICICI Bank may seize if the dues remain unpaid include more than 9.26 hectares of non agricultural land (SEZ) at Chirvat in Raigad district of Maharashtra, about 5,000 sq ft of office at the Bandra Kurla complex in Mumbai, 80,700 sq ft of commercial space in Calcutta, 75 acres of land in Andhra Pradesh and 95.51 acres of land at a village near Hyderabad.

PNB case in US

Punjab National Bank MD Sunil Mehta has said there are "positive developments" in favour of the lender pertaining to a bankruptcy case filed in the US by Nirav Modi's firm Firestar Diamond Inc. The company had filed for bankruptcy soon after the fraud was unearthed by the bank.