Financial market turmoil

The IL&FS crisis has been badly managed. There seems to have been a systemic breakdown of accountability and governance

The Indian financial markets are in a state of turmoil at the moment, with issuers and investors in both debt and equity under pressure.

The immediate cause of this stress is the IL&FS debt default. IL&FS is one of India’s largest financial conglomerates and infrastructure developers with a large NBFC, and infrastructure assets across power, roads and renewables. It has a marquee shareholder base, with LIC, SBI, HDFC, ADIA and Orix of Japan it’s largest shareholders. The company and its subsidiaries have more than Rs900 billion of debt outstanding, but were till recently AA+ rated and large issuers of bonds, commercial