IL&FS board to propose full sale, among other options: source

By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The government-appointed board of Indian lender Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Service Ltd (IL&FS) plans to propose a sale of the whole firm, some of its units or individual road projects, as it seeks to end the company's debt crisis, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.

The source, who did not want to be named ahead of a submission of the proposals to the National Company Law Tribunal on Wednesday, said it could take six to nine months to fully address the problems at IL&FS.

"We will be able to gauge buyers' interest only when we hit the market," the source said.

IL&FS, which is a major infrastructure financing and development company, has defaulted on some debt it owes banks in recent weeks, and its credit rating has been downgraded to junk from investment grade by ratings agencies.

(Writing by Krishna N. Das; Edited by Martin Howell)