Three foreign lenders to the Dabhol Power Company -- ANZ Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and ABN Amro -- have filed a claim for political risk insurance with the United Kingdom's export credit agency Export Credit Guarantee Department.

The banks have a combined exposure of at least $60 million to DPC.

The move assumes significance as another foreign lender to the project, the Bank of America, has already claimed $30 million in political risk insurance from the United States government agency Overseas Private Insurance Corporation.

The corporation in turn has a bilateral agreement with the Union government under which it can claim this sum.

In September this year, General Electric and Bechtel which hold 10 per cent stake in DPC too secured $30 million each as political risk insurance from OPIC following a ruling by an independent arbitration panel.

This amount too can be recovered from the Indian government.

ANZ Bank, ABN Amro and Standard Chartered had filed their claims with the ECGD before Bank of America.

"The latest award to the Bank of America has come as a shot in the arm to us and substantially strengthened our hands," a source in the foreign lenders consortium said.

The assets of the DPC, primarily the power plant, have passed into the hands of court receiver for care and preservation following a case filed by the domestic lenders' consortium after the global collapse of Enron Corp, the principal shareholder in DPC.

This sparked off a slew of litigation claiming political risk insurance with General Electric, Bechtel and the foreign lenders claiming that the assets had been expropriated.

The foreign banks have a total exposure of $372 million in DPC -- $100 million in the first phase and $272 million in the second phase.

Their exposure to the first phase is covered by a counter guarantee given by the Union government, but the exposure to the second phase enjoys no such cover. The domestic lenders enjoy no such guarantee for their exposure to either phase.