Crucial IDFC board meet today

Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) will hold its crucial board meeting tomorrow.

Apart from taking into account the audited results, the board will also decide on the growth path of the institution. The new 'business vision statement' will also need a 'new' head following the resignation of managing director Nasser Munjee last month.

IDFC has been in the news following mass resignation of the IDFC top brass protesting a proposal to merge IDFC with the State Bank of India.

A K T Chari, chief operating officer; Urjit Patel, chief policy advisor; L K Narayan, chief risk officer; and Luis Miranda, chief executive officer of IDFC Asset Management Company put in their papers along with Munjee but later withdrew their resignations.

The proposal for IDFC's initial public offering (IPO) is also on the agenda for discussion, as foreign stakeholders "" Deutsche Bank, AIG and the Government of Singapore "" holding 40 per cent stake in IDFC, having been seeking an exit route.

As part of the new business strategy, IDFC will play a major role the Rs 50,000 crore infrastructure financing package announced by finance minister Jaswant Singh. IDFC will need to undertake processing and appraisals of all projects that qualify for funding through this corpus.

IDFC's balance-sheet size as on September 30, 2003, was in excess of Rs 5,000 crore, and operating income constituted close to 80 per cent of total income.