With IL&FS(in 11 stock screeners, including the low durability screener) not being able to manage its debts, housing finance and infrastructure finance companies are all at once in the spotlight.  Even as institutions tried to reassure investors, markets have fallen. “The Reserve Bank of India and the Securities and Exchange Board of India are closely monitoring recent developments in financial markets and are ready to take appropriate actions, if necessary,” said statements released by both RBI and SEBI simultaneously. 

Analysts like Andy Mukherjee from Bloomberg have already raised the question of a possible bailout of IL&FS. The company has over $12.5 billion in debt tied up in the financing of roads, townships and water-treatment plants. The worry spread quickly among investors that other listed companies in this space are also affected, and this led to widespread sell-off in Dewan Housing Finance and other firms in the housing finance space.

While companies have rushed to assure investors that their balance sheets are healthy and they have no exposure to IL&FS (as the DHFL CEO did early today morning), investors may be dumping mutual funds with IL&FS exposure, and the market is reacting by moving sharply downward. It remains to be seen if regulators and the government plan to act.