DRT Benches in India: Complete List of 39 Debt Recovery Tribunals and 5 DRATs
India’s Debt Recovery Tribunal system has become a central part of the country’s legal framework for resolving disputes involving recovery of bank and financial-institution debts. As of the latest information published by the Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance, India has 39 Debts Recovery Tribunals (DRTs) and 5 Debts Recovery Appellate Tribunals (DRATs) functioning across the country. The tribunals operate primarily under the Recovery of Debts and Bankruptcy Act, 1993, with the objective of providing a specialised and comparatively expeditious mechanism for adjudicating and recovering debts owed to banks and financial institutions.
The DRT system was created because ordinary civil-court proceedings for recovery of substantial financial debts could be lengthy and complicated. The statutory framework gives DRTs jurisdiction over specified debt-recovery proceedings involving banks and financial institutions, while the SARFAESI Act, 2002 provides another important avenue through which borrowers, guarantors and other affected parties may approach the tribunal in appropriate circumstances. The Department of Financial Services identifies both the Recovery of Debts and Bankruptcy Act and the SARFAESI Act as key laws governing the DRT/DRAT framework.
The present nationwide network consists of 39 DRTs distributed among major financial and administrative centres. Several major cities have more than one tribunal because of the volume of litigation. Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Ernakulam, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai, for example, have multiple DRT benches, while other locations have a single DRT. The latest 2025-26 Annual Report of the Department of Financial Services confirms the same 39-tribunal structure.
The 39 DRTs are DRT-I Ahmedabad, DRT-II Ahmedabad, DRT Allahabad, DRT Aurangabad, DRT-I Bengaluru, DRT-II Bengaluru, DRT-I Chandigarh, DRT-II Chandigarh, DRT-III Chandigarh, DRT-I Chennai, DRT-II Chennai, DRT-III Chennai, DRT Coimbatore, DRT Cuttack, DRT-I Delhi, DRT-II Delhi, DRT-III Delhi, DRT Dehradun, DRT-I Ernakulam, DRT-II Ernakulam, DRT Guwahati, DRT-I Hyderabad, DRT-II Hyderabad, DRT Jabalpur, DRT Jaipur, DRT-I Kolkata, DRT-II Kolkata, DRT-III Kolkata, DRT Lucknow, DRT Madurai, DRT-I Mumbai, DRT-II Mumbai, DRT-III Mumbai, DRT Nagpur, DRT Patna, DRT Pune, DRT Ranchi, DRT Siliguri and DRT Visakhapatnam. This list is set out in the Ministry of Finance’s 2025-26 Annual Report.
For appellate proceedings, the country has five DRATs. They are DRAT Allahabad, DRAT Chennai, DRAT Delhi, DRAT Kolkata and DRAT Mumbai. These appellate tribunals hear appeals arising from DRT proceedings within their respective territorial arrangements. The five-DRAT structure has also been confirmed in the latest DFS annual report and on the Department’s current DRT/DRAT information page.
The territorial arrangement generally groups several DRTs under one DRAT. DRAT Allahabad covers the DRTs at Allahabad, Dehradun, Jabalpur, Lucknow, Patna and Ranchi. DRAT Chennai covers Chennai-I, Chennai-II, Chennai-III, Bengaluru-I, Bengaluru-II, Coimbatore, Ernakulam-I, Ernakulam-II and Madurai. DRAT Delhi covers Delhi-I, Delhi-II, Delhi-III, Chandigarh-I, Chandigarh-II, Chandigarh-III and Jaipur.
DRAT Kolkata covers Kolkata-I, Kolkata-II, Kolkata-III, Hyderabad-I, Hyderabad-II, Visakhapatnam, Siliguri, Cuttack and Guwahati. DRAT Mumbai covers Mumbai-I, Mumbai-II, Mumbai-III, Ahmedabad-I, Ahmedabad-II, Aurangabad, Nagpur and Pune. This distribution places the 39 DRTs under the appellate supervision of five regional DRATs.
Among the 39 tribunals, DRT Jabalpur is particularly significant for Madhya Pradesh. It forms part of the territorial jurisdiction associated with DRAT Allahabad, along with DRTs at Allahabad, Dehradun, Lucknow, Patna and Ranchi. The inclusion of Jabalpur in the national DRT network means that eligible debt-recovery and related proceedings falling within its jurisdiction can be dealt with through the specialised tribunal mechanism rather than through the ordinary civil-court recovery process.
The workload handled by the DRT system demonstrates the scale of financial litigation involved. According to the current Department of Financial Services data, DRTs disposed of 36,395 Original Application cases during 2023-24 involving approximately ₹1.64 lakh crore, while 16,146 SARFAESI applications were disposed of involving approximately ₹1.42 lakh crore. For 2024-25, the department reports that, up to December 2024, 23,088 Original Application cases involving about ₹98,017 crore and 11,000 SARFAESI applications involving about ₹82,152 crore had been disposed of.
An Original Application, commonly referred to as an OA, is generally the mechanism through which banks and financial institutions pursue recovery claims before a DRT. SARFAESI applications, meanwhile, can be filed by borrowers, guarantors and third parties in circumstances covered by the SARFAESI framework. The DFS itself distinguishes these two categories in its published statistical data.
The tribunals are headed at the first level by Presiding Officers, while DRATs are headed by Chairpersons. The Department of Financial Services is responsible for important administrative matters relating to the establishment and functioning of DRTs and DRATs, including appointments, staffing, case-disposal monitoring and administrative guidance.
The system has also undergone substantial digitisation. The government’s e-DRT project was implemented to digitise the functioning of all 39 DRTs and five DRATs. The system supports electronic case-related processes and e-filing, with the stated objective of improving transparency and efficiency and making case information available online.
The current administrative position also shows that staffing remains an ongoing issue. In September 2026, the Department of Financial Services published a recruitment notice concerning existing, anticipated and unforeseen vacancies up to December 31, 2026 for Registrar, Assistant Registrar and Recovery Officer positions in DRTs and DRATs. This indicates that the government continues to manage staffing requirements across the tribunal network as part of its ongoing administration.
The DRT framework is therefore considerably broader than a simple list of recovery courts. It represents a specialised statutory adjudication structure connecting banks and financial institutions, borrowers, guarantors, secured creditors and appellate authorities. The 39 DRTs provide the principal tribunal-level network, while the five DRATs provide the appellate structure. Together, they form a nationwide mechanism specifically designed around debt recovery and related proceedings under the applicable financial-recovery laws.
The latest official government material available in 2026 continues to identify 39 functioning DRTs and five functioning DRATs. The Department of Financial Services’ dedicated DRT/DRAT page was last updated on February 5, 2026, while the department’s 2025-26 Annual Report again records the same 39 DRTs and five DRATs. Accordingly, the 39-DRT and five-DRAT structure remains the current official national framework.
For anyone dealing with bank-recovery litigation, SARFAESI proceedings, Original Applications, securitisation applications or appeals from DRT orders, identifying the correct DRT and its corresponding DRAT is an important jurisdictional step. The applicable tribunal depends on the territorial and statutory jurisdiction of the matter, so the existence of a DRT in a particular city does not by itself determine where every proceeding concerning a borrower or property must be filed. The official e-DRT portal and Department of Financial Services remain the appropriate government sources for checking current tribunal information and procedural details.
