Mayo, Welham, Manipal Academy Caught in IL&FS Toxic Bond Net

New Delhi: In the continuing IL&FS toxic bonds saga, the creme de la creme of some of India’s top privately-held public schools have now come under the bus, with their staff provident fund is afflicted by the virus.

 A hapless government and new Uday Kotak-led management looks on, but does nothing as the case is being heard in National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). While NCLAT wants to speed up the hearing on the intervening petitions filed by the parties impacted, the new management/government cannot let those who have impleaded get priority in the creditor queue.
 

The list compiled after painstaking research reveals Welham Girls' School Dehradun, American Embassy School, New Delhi, Kodaikanal International School, the prestigious Mayo College, Ajmer which incidentally has two entries, Ashoka Hall in Kolkata and then the DAV College Trust with six entries, DAV College with three entries, Manipal Academy of Higher Education with 12 entries while Manipal Institute of Technology has an additional five entries. 

Notable alumni from Manipal include Satya Nadella, Rajeev Suri, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Vikas Khanna and many others. DAV Chandigarh is the alma mater of Capt. Vikram Batra, Ayushmann Khurana and Rajiv Pratap Rudy. Mayo alumni include Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir, Jaswant Singh, K. Natwar Singh, Amitabh Kant while those from Welhams include Brinda Karat, Deepa Mehta, Radhika Roy.

A case of some being more trusting of the veracity of the IL&FS triple A rated bonds more than others. Teachers who impart education at these institutions are part of a larger community of working people who are suffering as their savings are now affected. Moreover, another excellent Kolkata institution -- Orient Day School in Behala with 107 faculty members -- has also invested staff PF in these bonds. Ditto for a solitary government-owned Kendriya Vidyalaya which, too, is stuck with this Chinese pup. 

It is the teaching staff at these blue riband institutions whose PF money is tied up in the bonds.

Let us understand that the teachers at some of the best boarding schools must be better paid than other peers in day schools. Mayo College, for instance, charges Rs 650,000 p.a. for a resident and Rs 13,00,000 p.a. from  non-resident Indian. Over and above this, a development fee of Rs 26,600 is charged p.a., a computer class fee of Rs 7,700 p.a. Further caution money of Rs 325,000 is charged from a resident and Rs 650,000 from a NRI. Next admission fee of Rs 82,500, one-time IT fee Rs 24,900, impress money of Rs 40,000, uniform advance of Rs 25,000 et al.

At American Embassy School New Delhi, the fee structure is in dollars. Annual tuition fee from kindergarten to grade V is $12,860, grade VI-VIII is $13,830, grades IX-XII $14,500. The school also charges a registration fee of $5,750 per student payable on first enrolment, an application fee of $200 and a round trip bus fee of $820. The dollar is potentially around Rs 70 currently.