Bankers were overconfident and probably did too little due diligence for some of these loans. Many did no independent analysis… —Raghuram Rajan This is a behind-the-scenes look at the spectacular collapse of some of the biggest names in India Inc. The book reveals the real reasons behind the non-payment of loans of over Rs 9 lakh crore to the banks by behemoths like Reliance Communications, Videocon, IL&FS and Essar Steel, among others. The authors analyze how funds were illegally diverted from some of the bankrupt companies and why auditors as well as bankers went into sleep mode. Even more baffling was the fact that a few bankers loaned thousands of crores of rupees to these companies based on nothing but project reports by investment bankers hired by the company promoters. And, most shocking of all, some bankers kept giving fresh loans to firms that had been defaulting on their payments. The authors investigate whether sinister machinations took place at the top corporate houses that failed to repay trillions of rupees to banks. How did some promoters manage to survive the NPA choke, while other promoters were either jailed or fled India? These corporate failures have plunged the entire economy into deep crisis. The aftermath of the meltdown did not even spare the small investors who were deceived by the much-vaunted credit-rating agencies that kept giving the best ratings to companies that were almost bankrupt. The most devastating impact, however, was that thousands of people lost their jobs overnight when these companies shut their operations. The authors analyse what went wrong and the lessons we can learn from India Inc’s biggest implosions