B. R. Shetty, who founded NMC Health, once the largest private healthcare group in the UAE, has sued Bank of Baroda and 25 other defendants in the Bombay High Court for $15 billion, Business Standard reported on 13 October 2026. He alleges that bank staff helped former executives hide debt and move money out of the group. The bank says it has not been served with the suit, cannot comment on claims “untested in court”, and “will defend the suit firmly”. None of the allegations has been tested by a judge.
The case is worth following for one reason above all: it shows how debt that is missing from the accounts can wipe out, in a few months, a fortune built over decades, and why the founder, the banks and the administrators then spend years suing each other.
From one clinic to the FTSE 100
Shetty, a pharmacist from Udupi in India, opened the New Medical Centre in Abu Dhabi in 1975, according to Gulf News and Outlook Business. NMC listed in London in 2012 and later joined the FTSE 100. AGBI puts its peak market value at £8.6 billion in 2018.
In December 2019 the short seller Muddy Waters alleged that NMC had inflated the value of its assets and understated its debt, The National reported. Within months the picture changed. In April 2020 NMC went into administration. It disclosed debts of about $6.6 billion, far above earlier estimates of about $2.1 billion, Reuters reported.
How hidden debt destroys a fortune
Debt can stay off a company’s books in several ways: loans booked in entities outside the group accounts, supplier finance recorded as ordinary bills to pay, or guarantees that never appear in the notes. Auditors try to catch this by writing directly to each bank and asking it to confirm every balance. If a confirmation leaves something out, the auditor may never see it.
That is one of Shetty’s central claims. According to Business Standard, the suit says 15 balance confirmations were prepared for the auditor, EY, but only 11 reached it. These are allegations.
Once the real debt appears, the damage moves fast. Lenders lose trust and stop rolling over loans. A breach under one loan can allow other lenders to demand repayment too. Shareholders are paid last, so when debts exceed what the business is worth, the founder’s shares can become close to worthless. Personal guarantees signed by the founder then turn a company’s debt into a family’s debt.
What an administrator does
Administration is a formal insolvency process in the UK and some other systems. An insolvency professional takes control from the directors. The job is to rescue the business if possible, or else get creditors a better result than a simple liquidation, and to investigate what went wrong. Administrators can sue anyone they think caused the loss, including directors, auditors and banks.
At NMC, Alvarez & Marsal took on that role in 2020. It brought a $5.4 billion claim in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) courts against Shetty, NMC’s former chief executive and Bank of Baroda, AGBI reported; the trial began on 23 March 2026. It also settled confidentially with EY, which faced a £2 billion negligence claim in London. NMC’s core operations left administration in 2022.
On 2 July 2026, Bank of Baroda told Indian stock exchanges it had agreed to pay $600 million to settle the claims of NMC’s companies and their joint administrators, without admitting liability or wrongdoing, according to Khaleej Times and Business Today. The ADGM case against the bank was then discontinued.
Why banks and founders end up suing each other
When a collapse leaves a large hole, everyone looks for whoever still has money. Banks chase guarantees: Bank of Baroda says it is pursuing about ₹28 billion ($295 million) from Shetty in India and the UAE, according to Reuters. In October 2025 the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) courts ordered him to pay about $46 million to State Bank of India under a personal guarantee for a loan to NMC, The National reported.
Shetty’s position is that he was the victim. He says he gave up control of the group in 2012 and stepped down as chief executive in 2017, and that former executives used forged signatures. In the new suit he alleges the bank ignored more than 100 internal anti-money-laundering alerts, Bar & Bench reports. He also seeks $5 billion from the bank alone for damage to his reputation. A similar $8 billion suit he brought in New York against the bank, EY and others was dismissed, Moneylife reported.
A fair caveat
Every claim in the Mumbai suit is an allegation, and the bank says it has not even been served. Other courts have ruled against Shetty in guarantee cases. The $600 million settlement was expressly not an admission of liability. The administrators’ claims were against Shetty too, and he denies wrongdoing. Courts, not commentators, will decide who knew what.
Five lessons to take away
- Reported debt is only as good as its confirmations. Owners should know who confirms balances to the auditor.
- Personal guarantees outlive the company. Lenders were still pursuing them six years after the collapse.
- Stepping back is not stepping out. A title or a signature can carry legal weight whatever your day-to-day role.
- Concentration magnifies a collapse. When one listed company holds most of a family’s wealth, its failure is the family’s failure; see five mistakes in managing family wealth.
- A settlement is not a verdict. Paying to end a case does not decide who was right.
Questions to bring to your advisors
What guarantees have members of our family signed for our companies, and are they still live? Do we see the bank confirmations our auditors receive, and do our governance rules give the owners an early warning when debt rises? These are questions to bring to your advisors, not advice.
