With debt exposure at Rs 56,000 cr, MFs' infra bets come under IL&FS cloud

MFs have taken exposure to Essel group entities, including a road-related SPV, where promoters' shares are placed as collateral

The mutual fund (MF) industry’s bid to optimise yields on debt portfolios have led them to load up on exposure to the infrastructure space. However, experts say that the recent instance of IL&FS’ special purpose vehicle (SPV) denying repayment to bondholders, coupled with challenges in Essel group’s infra investments, doesn’t bode well for the MFs’ infra bets. 

“A significant share of these infrastructure investments would be in annuity structure projects that allow reasonable cash flows. However, the recent case of an IL&FS SPV not paying coupon payments to bondholders is a bad precedent and a cause of concern for MFs