BR Shetty liable in NMC fraud; Abu Dhabi court sets .4 billion baseline

A court of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the financial free zone in the UAE capital, has held NMC Health founder BR Shetty and the company's former chief executive Prasanth Manghat liable for fraudulent and wrongful trading in the collapse of the hospital group, according to reports of the judgment published on Saturday, 7 November 2026. The ADGM Court of First Instance set US$5.397 billion, about $5.4 billion, as the starting point for the contributions the two men must make to NMC's assets, and said it would decide the amount each must pay after further submissions. In the judgment, the judge, Justice Sir Andrew Smith, wrote: "In my judgment, Dr Shetty was dishonest." The claim was brought by NMC's administrators.

NMC Health was a major UAE hospital group founded by an Indian entrepreneur, and its collapse left creditors, many of them banks, with large losses. The judgment gives a full court finding on how the company's debts were hidden. The central finding is stark: the group was carrying nearly twice as much undisclosed borrowing as the debt it reported, which means lenders, investors and the market were working with a badly wrong picture of its finances.

For India, the case matters in three ways. First, Shetty is a prominent Indian businessman in the Gulf, and the ruling will shape how courts elsewhere, including any proceedings involving his assets, treat the claims against him. Second, Indian lenders were among NMC's creditors. Bank of Baroda faced the administrators' claim in the same ADGM proceedings and settled it for $600 million earlier in 2026 without admitting wrongdoing; the court has now declined to make any finding against the bank. Third, the case is a reminder for Indian companies and banks operating abroad of how far undisclosed borrowing can go before it is caught.

The judgment is not the end of the case. The court has said it will hold a further hearing on consequential matters such as statutory interest, costs, and claims by Shetty and Bank of Baroda against other defendants. The final amounts payable by each man will be fixed then. The reports did not carry a response from Shetty or Manghat to the ruling, or say whether they will appeal.

Peepals calculation: According to the court's findings, NMC's undisclosed borrowings of $3.88 billion were about 1.95 times its reported debt of $1.99 billion (3.88 ÷ 1.99 ≈ 1.95), putting the group's real borrowing at about $5.87 billion at the end of 2018 (3.88 + 1.99). Bank of Baroda's $600 million settlement equals about 11% of the $5.397 billion baseline set for Shetty and Manghat (0.6 ÷ 5.397 ≈ 0.11). Our calculation from the reported figures.

Short-term: NMC's administrators can now seek to recover money from Shetty and Manghat once the court fixes the final amounts. Further hearings on interest and costs will follow.

Long-term: The ruling adds weight to claims against Shetty in other jurisdictions and moves creditors a step closer to recovery. It may also influence how Gulf and Indian lenders scrutinise borrowers' disclosures.

Who is affected: BR Shetty and Prasanth Manghat; NMC's administrators and creditors, including banks in India and the Gulf; Bank of Baroda, which settled earlier; and investors who lost money in NMC's collapse.

What to watch next: the further ADGM hearing on interest, costs and the amount payable by each of the two men; no date has been reported.

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