RBI eases norms to give more flexibility to banks for recasting large project loans

16 Dec 2014 Evaluate

In a major boost to the infrastructure sector as well as for banks financing long gestation projects, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) eased norms for structuring of existing long-term project loans to infrastructure and core industries. The RBI widened the scope of 5:25 scheme by extending flexible refinancing and repayment option for long-term infrastructure projects to existing ones where the total exposure of lenders is more than Rs.500 crore.

As per the RBI’s circular, banks can now fix fresh loan amortization schedules for existing projects without being treated as restructuring. The amortization schedule should be within 85% of the initial concession period of the projects, and banks should be sure about the cash flow generation capabilities of the projects. The move came as a major boost to banking industry and since April any freshly restructured asset will be considered as bad debt and they will have to set aside a minimum of 15% provision against such loans. The circular also noted that flexible refinancing and repayment option will also be available for projects that have already been classified as bad debt or stressed, however it will be treated as restructuring and the project will continue to be termed non-performing till the project gets upgraded after satisfactory performance on servicing the loans. Further RBI has also allowed banks to raise long-term assets to avoid asset-liability mismatches.

Five sectors including infrastructure, iron and steel, textiles, aviation and mining contribute 24% to total advances of commercial banks, and account for around 53% of their total stressed advances. Till now, banks were typically not lending beyond 10-12 years, resulting into cash shortage for infrastructure and core industries firms as they tried to meet shorter repayment schedules. With this change in rule, cash flows will match the repayment schedule and long-term infrastructure projects will become viable.

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