Govt outlines three options in revival road map for IL&FS
MUMBAI: The government has submitted a broad revival plan for Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS) where it is considering three options, including resolution at the group level, sale of business verticals, or the sale of individual assets.
The government is conducting audit and investigation of IL&FS and all the 346 subsidiaries and very soon it will come to the tribunal for the execution of the roadmap for revival, the government said on Wednesday while submitting the progress report to the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
“There is a universe of options available to the government for the revival of the infrastructure group,” argued Sanjay Shorey, director, legal prosecution, ministry of corporate affairs (MCA).
“The new board’s current assessment is that the resolution options could broadly involve (individually or in a combination) significant capital infusion, divestments, and debt restructurings at an IL&FS group level, a business vertical or platform level or at an asset level,” Shorey said.
The counsel representing the government added that they have found various instances of mismanagement and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) is still conducting an investigation into the conduct of the erstwhile board.
“The new board continues its efforts to unravel the intragroup borrowings and believes that large parts of the IL&FS Group were, in the past, operated as a single enterprise with no boundaries of legal entities and separate managements,” argued Shorey.
“On a preliminary analysis of the financial statements and records of IL&FS Financial Services Ltd (IFIN) for the last 3 financial years, it is noticed that IFIN had outstanding loans and investments to companies in the IL&FS Group of ₹5,728 crore, ₹5,127 crore, and ₹5,490 crore between FY16 and FY18,” he said. “The new board has found that in one instance, around ₹1,500 crore was routed through one of the IL&FS subsidiaries and had transferred to other group companies,” argued Shorey.