Mumbai, Dec 30 (IANS): Refuting social media posts stating that the R Com group of companies owes Rs 86,188 crore to Indian banks and financial institutions, a strongly worded statement was issued by a Reliance Group spokesperson on Wednesday.

The statement said - It is being falsely and mischievously stated in a section of social media that RCOM Group of companies owe Rs. 86,188 crore to Indian banks and financial institutions.

As per figures certified by the Resolution Professional appointed by the lenders, the RCOM group owed Rs.26,000 crore to Indian banks and financial institutions as on the date of filing before the NCLT.

The Resolution Plans unanimously agreed by the lenders are at various stages of approval before the NCLT, and upon implementation thereof, the lenders are likely to recover at least 70% of their dues, with potential subsequent upside.

The financial stress in the telecom sector, owing inter alia to the entry of a new player in 2016 with unlimited free offerings, was not unique to RCOM, but decimated the entire industry, and led to the shutdown of services by Aircel, Sistema, Videocon, Tata Docomo and several other players, and also severely impacted the financials of global giants like Vodafone in its Indian operations to an extent that Vodafone Idea has reported losses aggregating Rs. 1,00,000 crore in the last 15 months.

The alleged 'fraud' classification by certain banks is entirely unjustified and unwarranted, and the Honble Delhi High Court by an interim order has directed the same to be kept in abeyance for the time being, and the matter is now sub judice.