Govt mulls option of selling IL&FS group

Sale of debt-ridden Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) is one of the options and that seems to be the 'best case scenario' to help the company tide over the crisis, Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas said on Monday.

IL&FS, which arranged financing for infrastructure projects, has amassed huge debts and its group companies have defaulted on payment obligations for some.

"Whatever is in the best interest of the stakeholders, including public interest, will be the factor which will guide a resolution," he said. "As far as IL&FS is concerned, I think the report which has been submitted to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) articulates the approach. So, it could be in the best scenario that IL&FS as a group enterprise is sold as a going concern," he added.

However, there are serious issues and the likelihood of such an outcome is limited, he said.

The government has seized control of IL&FS and ordered an inquiry by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office. Speaking about other options, he said, "There are alternative approaches of looking at separate verticals, and verticals going as one consolidated entity. And the last approach is that you have an asset level sale".

But, what seems most probable is to have a combination of all the three approaches,

he said, adding "all the three approaches in some sort of permutation and combination can ultimately be the outcome".