Hyderabad: To recover over Rs 340 crore loan reportedly defaulted by the Butta Group, owned by former MP and YSRCP functionary Butta Renuka and her husband Neelakanta Shiva Butta, LIC Housing Finance Limited (LICHFL) has decided to auction 15 land parcels and properties in Khanamet belonging to the group on May 9.
Sources said this is the biggest auction by the state-owned housing finance company to recover its loan amount from a defaulter in recent times.
LICHFL, Bengaluru, has issued a notification to auction 15 properties in survey numbers 11/4 and 11/5 in Khanamet village in Serilingampally mandal of Rangareddy district. The said properties are in the names Renuka and Neelakanta.
The housing finance company authorities said Neelakanta and Renuka availed loans for Butta Convention Services Pvt Ltd, Meridian Edutech Solutions Pvt Ltd, and Butta Infrastructure Pvt Ltd and defaulted on repayments. LICHFL would be conducting an e-auction of the properties. The group had been defaulting on loan repayments for the past five years.
LICHFL had made a similar attempt to auction the properties of the former MP and her husband in April 2024, ahead of the AP assembly and Lok Sabha elections. However, it was stalled due to a case in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
Now, LICHFL has renewed its attempt to recover the loan amount with other charges, including interest, through the auction and fixed Rs 325 crore as the reserve price for the properties. The earnest money deposit (EMD) to take part in the auction has been fixed at Rs 32.15 crore. Bidders have to bid 10% over the reserve price.
The Butta Group, founded in 1985, is a diversified business enterprise comprising education, hospitality, automotive, retail, infrastructure, and healthcare. Neelakanta is the chairman and managing director of the group, while his wife Renuka is a director.
Renuka was elected to Lok Sabha from Kurnool constituency in 2014 on a YSRCP ticket. She contested from Yemmiganur assembly segment from the same party in the 2024 polls, but was unsuccessful.
Neelakanta told TOI that they sought two to three years to repay the loan amount, but LICHFL did not agree.
