Uday Kotak's term as IL&FS Chairman extended by 1 year (Ld)

September 24,2020

Uday Kotak is set to remain the Chairman of IL&FS for one more year as the Centre has extended his tenure on the group's board till October 2, 2021.

The restructured board with the Kotak Mahindra Bank MD as the Chairman was formed in October 2018 and was mandated to complete the resolution of the IL&FS and its group companies, which have debt of over Rs 90,000 crore, through a fair and transparent process.

Resolution of the group companies is underway and the group expects to address a debt of about Rs 57,240 crore out of the total debt of over Rs 99,000 crore. The revised estimate is well above the 50 per cent mark of the overall debt.

The aggregate value of debt being addressed is now estimated at over Rs 57,000 crore, with around Rs 50,500 crore likely to be addressed by March 2021, IL&FS had said in July.

IL&FS has, till June 30, 2020, addressed debt of Rs 17,640 crore from a combination of completed asset sales, debt repayment to green entities, debt discharged in non-green entities and available cash balance across the group.

"This extension is a step towards fulfilling the national and public duty entrusted on the new IL&FS board to resolve one of India's largest financial sector challenges, comprising over 300 companies in the group," said an IL&FS Group spokesperson.

Earlier this month, the IL&FS Group had completed the sale of its 73.69 per cent stake in the education business, held under Schoolnet India Limited (SIL), to Falafal Technologies Private Limited.

The sale was completed pursuant to the approval granted by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Principal Bench through an order dated August 31, 2020. The transaction provides positive equity value to IL&FS and resolves nearly Rs 650 crore of consolidated fund based and non-fund based financial debt, without any haircut to the lenders.