IIFCL plans to raise about Rs 8,000 cr from borrowing during Jan-Mar qtr

IIFCL MD Jaishankar said that the company has finalised blended finance of $600 million with the Asian Development Bank and Korean Exim Bank to expand its investor base and lower the borrowing cost

State-owned India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) on Monday said it plans to raise about Rs 8,000 crore from borrowing, including from overseas institutions, during the January-March quarter.

"We had planned to raise Rs 29,000 crore during the current fiscal to fund business growth of 20 per cent. Out of that 75 per cent have been mobilised in the three quarters and 25 per cent would be done during this quarter," IIFCL Managing Director PR Jaishankar said on the sidelines of 20th foundation day of the company.

The company plans to raise $200 million through external commercial borrowing during this quarter, he said.

 

Besides, he said, the company has finalised blended finance of $600 million with the Asian Development Bank and Korean Exim Bank to expand its investor base and lower the borrowing cost.

First tranche of this, he said, about $ 200 million may come through this fiscal while the remaining may come in only in 2025-26.

"We are in touch with ADB, World Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for fundraising via ECB route.

"The intent of overseas borrowings strategy is to ensure cost-effectiveness and long-term money. We are looking at 20-25 year tenor funds from multilateral resources," he said.

So far, IIFCL has raised 50 billion yen from JICA, $ 1,900 million from ADB and $ 195 million from the World Bank.

Asked about the target given by the Financial Services Secretary for the next three years, Jaishankar said, "We have already reached a cumulative sanction figure of Rs 3 trillion and we have already disbursed over Rs 1.5 trillion so far on a cumulative basis. Our balance sheet size is touching around Rs 80,000 crore approximately."  First, he said, the focus would be to touch Rs 1 trillion from the balance sheet in the next few months, possibly by June.

IIFCL would be able to meet the expectations of the government within the next 3 years as has been indicated by the secretary, he said, adding, "I think the journey does not seem to be very different from how we have been in the last four years, if we go with the same kind of gusto and the same kind of strategies I am sure we will even surpass Rs 1 trillion."  Earlier in the day, Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju said IIFCL has the potential to grow its book size by Rs 1 trillion in the next three years, given its performance in the past four years.