Srei Audit to Check Links with IL&FS
The special audit of two key companies of Srei, a leading infra and equipment finance house, will examine their possible links with IL&FS group — India's largest shadow bank whose collapse shrank the bond market and unsettled regulators in the summer of 2018. The audit, directed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), will track the end use of money lent by Srei firms against 'letter of awareness' issued by the IL&FS group. Letter of awareness that is similar to 'letter of comfort' is not legally enforceable and (unlike a guarantee) is not captured in the annual accounts of the issuer.