The new board of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services on Thursday appointed Vineet Nayyar the vice chairperson and managing director of the debt-laden firm, The Economic Times reported.
Nayyar is the executive vice chairperson of Tech Mahindra, which helped revive failed computer services company Satyam following government intervention, Reuters reported.
The government replaced the entire board of IL&FS on Monday after recent defaults on some of its debt obligations triggering declines in stock and debt markets.
Nayyar said they have no predetermined view on any person or any course of action. He said the board’s objective is to create an enabling environment in the infrastructure financing company.
Nayyar, a key figure who revived the scam-tainted Satyam Computers, said both the cases are very different, calling it “chalk and cheese”. “Satyam was a simple case of felony … Here the complexity is much larger,” he said. “There is no evidence of any form of felony.” He added that putting IL&FS back on its feet would require efforts at multiple levels.
“This is a very complex company, a financial markets intermediary and in a real world space,” said Uday Kotak, the chairperson of the newly-appointed board, according to The New Indian Express.
Kotak said the task would be to build trust, ensure fair value for assets and enterprises are preserved. “There are three to four options before the board,” Kotak said, adding the task at hand was much larger than anticipated with 348 entities under IL&FS.
IL&FS and its subsidiaries have a combined debt of more than Rs 91,000 crore and have defaulted on multiple loan repayments in the last couple of months. The situation is reportedly so grim that it is being compared to the 2008 Lehman Brothers crisis that triggered a global financial meltdown.
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