A shadow looms: India needs to stop the IL&FS rot from spreading

A tad late, but the message is finally reaching India’s regulators: Infrastructure lender IL&FS is not a business that can be allowed to fail without consequences. An unusual Sunday evening joint statement by the securities regulator and the central bank suggests a much-needed awareness of systemic risks.

Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd. is a sprawling nonbank institution that used its highly rated paper to chalk up $12.5 billion of debt, which it funneled into the financing of long-term assets like roads, townships and water-treatment plants. Most of these businesses are owned by IL&FS-linked operating companies.

The opacity masked growing liquidity problems, though only up to a point. Some of the group’s finance companies are now missing repayments on short-term paper, even as the unlisted parent’s owners, including state-run Life Insurance Corp. of India, dawdle over an emergency infusion of funds.