Beleaguered Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) is finally seeing a ray of hope as its lenders have expressed their willingness to help it come out of crisis

HPL currently has a negative net worth of more than Rs 60 crore and accumulated loss of nearly Rs 3,000 crore. There are Rs 15.5 crore-worth of disputed shares of the company over which its promoters are in conflict for around a decade.

TCG chief Chatterjee, who owns 41 per cent of the company, had offered to invest Rs 500 crore as equity in the company, but the offer was turned down by the West Bengal Government, which owns 31 per cent stake in the company.

The company is on the brink of being sent to the Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction (BIFR), which handles financially-ailing companies.

However, lenders have now agreed to help the company. SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya has expressed confidence that its HPL loan will not turn bad (NPA).

Speaking on the topic, she said, "HPL asset will not turn bad. We hope that the company will turn around soon. It has a potential of very good profitability. We are working on something for HPL."

Sources in IFCI said the lenders agreed to help the company because they were convinced about its potential. However, nothing was disclosed about the package the lenders have in mind to help HPL.

Apart from SBI and IFCI, the list of HPL's lenders includes ICICI Bank, Union Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Allahabad Bank.