9 State owned financial intermediaries to collaborate to bolster large infra projects

03 Jan 2012 Evaluate

In its bid to put large infrastructure project proposals on the fast track, nine state owned financial intermediaries are contemplating the idea of joining forces to undertake joint appraisal and co-financing of infrastructure projects. To formalize this joint infrastructure project financing arrangement, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) is underway.

A committee of senior officials from seven of the largest public sector banks in the country viz. State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Bank of India, Union Bank of India and IDBI Bank along with the nation’s largest life insurer LIC and the non-banking finance company IIFCL, will be constituted to consider the viability of large infrastructure projects that entail a capital expenditure of Rs 1,000 crore or more.

Presently, most large infrastructure projects take long time to achieve financial closure since a project developer has to hunt for banks or financial institutions to get projects evaluated and to get loan approved. But the formalization of this consortium of banks, LIC and IIFCL is likely to alleviate a lot of concerns of developers and fast track the whole process of evaluation and loan sanctioning since there will only be a single point of contact for loan appraisal and sanction.

This development has come up at a time when insufficient infrastructure in various sectors such as roads, ports, airports, railways, power, oil and gas pipelines, irrigation, water supply and sanitation is becoming a hurdle to sustainable development and growth. The Planning Commission’s Draft Approach Paper for the 12th Plan (2012-2017), advocates the fact that special attention needs to be paid to the financing needs of private sector investment in infrastructure. The paper also underscores that investment in infrastructure must rise to around 10 percent of GDP in 2016-17 from the current close to 8 percent of GDP in the base year (2011-12) of the Plan.

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