IIFC: 7K cr for infrastructure projects

BANGALORE: India Infrastructure Finance Company(IIFC), the financial special purpose ve-hicle(SPV) created by the Union government is reported to have lined up Rs 7,000 crore worth of finance for funding various infrastructure projects in the country.

Speaking to the media, Mr S S Kohli, the CMD of IIFC said that the agency had got nod from not large banks and financial institutions but even multi-lateral agencies such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. "We have plans to mop up close to Rs 10,000 crore. Globally investors are bullish about India and eager to participate in the country's development process no-tably in the infrastructure arena. The funds IIFC is seeking to raise are at mar-ket rates and we are not seeking any concessions," he added.

Besides these agencies, Mr Kohli said that even entities like venture funds were keen to provide debt-funding. During the last seven months, Mr Kohli said that IIFC had identified 40 projects to the tune of Rs 6,800 crore. These 40 projects are expected to cost Rs 45,000 crore.

Mr Kohli was in Bangalore to announce the signing of a memorandum of un-derstanding(MoU) between IIFC and three city-based banks-Canara Bank, Syndicate Bank and Vijaya Bank.

He said that IIFC had had successful experience in funding with the three banks. Alongwith Canara Bank it had funded.

Mr M B N Rao, CMD of Canara Bank in his welcome speech noted that infra-structure funding had gained significant importance for the banking sector. In case of Canara Bank for instance, this asset class is expected to account for 20% of the total asset portfolio. As of date it is valued at about Rs 11,900 crore which should rise to Rs 20,000 crore by the end of the current fiscal, Mr Rao said.

According to Mr Prakash Mallya, CMD of Vijaya Bank banks also needed to beef up their appraisal skills specially with regard to infrastructure funding. He said that Vijaya Bank had an exposure of Rs 3,500 crore to infrastructure sector amounting to 18% of the bank's portfolio.

Mr C P Swarankar, CMD of Syndicate Bank was also present on the ocassion. He said that infrastructure funding was a key component in the bank's growth.