IIFCL disburses Rs 5.4k cr for infrastructure projects

MUMBAI: Indian Infra Finance Company (IIFCL)��� the government sponsored core sector lender��� has already disbursed Rs 5,400 crore to various infrastructure projects. Chairman SS Kohli told ET that the company has further sanctioned Rs 18,000 crore to 106 other projects and plans to raise more funds through the bond market in the future. He, however, ruled out a public offering in the immediate future, as widely speculated.

���We have applied to our board and the government for raising further funds from the market. But there will be no public offer,��� Mr Kohli said. He also declined to give details of the amount IIFCL planned to raise.

The government had opened a Rs 10,000-crore refinance window for new projects through IIFCL as part of its stimulus package in December 2008.

IIFCL was to lend to banks, which was then to be passed onto aspirant infra projects. However, analysts had been pointing out that most of this still lay unused thanks to the economic slowdown and barely any new projects reaching financial closure. Mr Kohli said while the demand from the infrastructure sector was satisfactory, IIFCL can only complete the lending once the financial closure was complete.

In the past six months itself, Rs 600-crore had been pumped into various projects, Mr Kohli clarified. IIFCL was set up to provide funds at commercial terms with over 20-year maturity for infrastructure projects���including those in power and roadways���which is not being currently provided by the market.

In line with its mandate, IIFCL���s last few loans have been to two highway and a power project at around Rs 300 crore. While the former was in Gujarat, the power project was in Chhattisgarh, Mr Kohli informed.

Besides borrowing of around Rs 10,000 crore from bond markets last year, IIFCL���s kitty also boasts of nearly Rs 5,600 crore consisting of loans from LIC, Small Savings Scheme and Asian Development Bank. At Rs 5,400-crore of actual disbursals, it would still leave close to Rs 10,000 crore unutilised. But the company is borrowing from the market in line with its financing plan of $6 billion till 2011.