To boost the investment in Infrastructure sector, India Ratings, an arm of global rating agency Fitch, will assign credit ratings to Infrastructure Debt Funds (IDFs) to instill confidence among the global investors for making investment in the infrastructure sector. The rating denotes the highest strength of the credit protection factors embedded in a fund’s investment policies and the quality of the sponsors.
Department of Economic Affairs secretary Arvind Mayaram has said that IDFs are crucial to provide thrust among investor to infrastructure sector as it will give confidence to investors especially for overseas sovereign wealth fund and pension funds and others. By adding further, he said that it will also help the investors to assess whether their investments in a particular IDF or another IDF would be able to give the kind of return they expect. Infrastructure Leasing and Finance Services Ltd, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and Hamon Group of Industries will sponsor the IDFs.
The development of infrastructure is a most critical prerequisite for sustaining the current growth momentum of the economy. The government has set a target of $1 trillion for development of infrastructure in the country for the 12th Five Year Plan.
