New board to consider all options to revive IL&FS

India's Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS), a debt-laden infrastructure financing and construction company, will consider all available options to revive the firm, its new non-executive chairman said on Thursday.

The new board of IL&FS does not underestimate the challenge, Uday Kotak told reporters.

The government replaced the company's entire board on Monday after recent defaults on some of its debt obligations triggered declines in stock and debt markets, leading to concerns about broader risk in the country's financial sector.

"We have listed down various options available to us as the next steps," said Kotak, who is also the managing director of Kotak Mahindra Bank.

"Depending on the various assessment of facts, we will be able to take a view on which of the roads to take and there are two or three or four options clearly available with us and you will see them unfold over the new few days and weeks," he said.

It would take time to revive the company and the new board would try to ensure a fair value for the assets of IL&FS, Kotak said.

The new board was made aware that there are 348 entities of the IL&FS group, which underscores the task at hand, Kotak said.

The board also appointed Vineet Nayyar, a former civil servant with a reputation for turning companies around, as its managing director.

Nayyar, currently executive vice-chairman of Tech Mahindra, helped revive failed computer services company Satyam, also following government intervention.

The Mahindra group acquired Satyam in 2009.

Nayyar was also the founding chairman of the state-run gas firm GAIL India Ltd.