IL&FS Financial Services MD and CEO Ramesh Bawa resigns

Mumbai: IL&FS Financial Services' MD and CEO Ramesh C Bawa has resigned from the company amid crisis in the IL&FS group for alleged defaults in loan payment and corporate governance issues.

In a filing to the BSE, IL&FS Financial Services said Bawa has resigned as managing director and chief executive officer. The company's independent directors -- Renu Challu, Surinder Singh Kohli, Shubhalakshmi Panse and Uday Ved -- too have put in their papers.

Non-Executive Director Vibhav Kapoor has also stepped down. Infrastructure conglomerate IL&FS has come under the scanner of multiple regulators, including Sebi, for alleged defaults related to financial disclosures and corporate governance.

Earlier this month, it came to light that IL&FS group defaulted on a short-term loan of Rs 1,000 crore from Sidbi, while a subsidiary has also defaulted Rs 500 crore dues to the development finance institution.

While IL&FS has nearly Rs 35,000 crore consolidated debt, IL&FS Financial Services has Rs 17,000 crore of debt, which sits as standard asset for most of the lenders, according to a Nomura India report.

The group has seen its various long-term and short-term borrowing programmes downgraded to 'default' or 'junk' grades by credit rating agencies, even as the regulators are also probing alleged delay in disclosure about certain loan defaults.

Among others, capital markets regulator Sebi, the Reserve Bank, the Corporate Affairs Ministry and the Finance Ministry have received complaints about alleged wrongdoings at Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS) and its various group entities, including the listed ones.