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Case Study: IL&FS Crisis and Its Systemic Ripple Effects

A forensic walkthrough of the Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services collapse of 2018, the default that turned a single lender's balance sheet problem into a system-wide credit freeze. Built for experienced retail investors, active traders and HNIs, the course dissects how a company owned by LIC, SBI, HDFC and ORIX grew into a web of more than 300 entities, funded long-gestation infrastructure projects with short-term borrowing, and kept a AAA rating until weeks before it defaulted. It then traces the contagion: the commercial paper market seizing up, debt mutual funds marking down holdings, the DHFL sell-off on NSE, and the second-order damage that ran through Reliance Capital and the Franklin Templeton wind-up. It closes with the regulatory response from RBI, SEBI and the government, and practical frameworks for stress-testing NBFC stocks and debt funds in your own portfolio.

Asset-Liability MismatchNBFC Funding ModelsCredit RatingsCommercial Paper MarketsDebt Mutual Funds and Side PocketsSystemic ContagionCorporate GovernanceRegulatory Reform

MODULES

6

DURATION

~4 hrs

TRACK

Stock Market Basics

What You'll Master

Explain how IL&FS's ownership, group structure and funding model created a hidden asset-liability mismatch

Read the warning signs in IL&FS's own annual reports and rating rationales that were visible before the 2018 defaults

Trace how one default spread through the commercial paper market, debt mutual funds and listed NBFC stocks

Understand the regulatory changes that followed, from side pocketing and liquidity rules to NBFC scale-based regulation

Stress-test an NBFC stock and a debt fund portfolio for the same risks that brought IL&FS down

Access Level

LEARNER

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Everything included

Full Text Playbooks

Actionable Exercises

Mobile Reading Mode

Lifetime Updates

Curriculum Breakdown

Chapter 1: The Company Everyone Trusted

3 Lessons

Why IL&FS Still Matters: The Default That Rewired Indian Credit Markets9 min read

What IL&FS Was: Ownership, Mandate and the Infrastructure Financing Model11 min read

A Web of 300-Plus Entities: Mapping the Group Structure12 min read

Chapter 2: How the Balance Sheet Broke

4 Lessons

Borrowing Short to Lend Long: The Asset-Liability Mismatch12 min read

Leverage, Evergreening and the Core Investment Company Rules12 min read

Reading the Warning Signs in IL&FS's Own Annual Reports13 min read

Why the AAA Rating Held Until It Didn't11 min read

Chapter 3: The Defaults of 2018

2 Lessons

Timeline: From the First Missed Payments to the Board Takeover11 min read

The Government Steps In: NCLT, Section 241 and the New Board10 min read

Chapter 4: Contagion

4 Lessons

How One Default Froze the Commercial Paper Market12 min read

Debt Mutual Funds in the Firing Line: Markdowns, Redemptions and Side Pockets13 min read

The DHFL Sell-Off and the NBFC Crash on NSE11 min read

Second-Order Damage: DHFL, Reliance Capital and the Franklin Templeton Wind-Up13 min read

Chapter 5: Accountability and Reform

4 Lessons

The Forensic Audit: What Investigators Found11 min read

Auditors, Rating Agencies and Independent Directors Under Scrutiny11 min read

How RBI, SEBI and the Government Changed the Rules13 min read

The Resolution: Recovering Money from Hundreds of Entities10 min read

Chapter 6: Lessons for Your Portfolio

3 Lessons

Stress-Testing an NBFC Stock Before You Buy It13 min read

Choosing Debt Funds After IL&FS: Portfolios, Credit Risk and the PRC Matrix12 min read

A Systemic Risk Checklist: Spotting the Next IL&FS11 min read