Talks are on with SBI for $11-bn infra fund: Montek
The government is in talks with State Bank of India over an $11-billion fund as the country seeks to raise finances to build roads, ports and power plants. The government is holding discussions with SBI and a couple of other players for a debt fund that would buy bonds sold by infrastructure companies, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.SBI may act as an anchor investor along with one or two local or foreign funds, he said.
Ranked below Ivory Coast for the quality of its public facilities, the nation will need an estimated $1 trillion in infrastructure in the five years to March 2017 to reach such an expansion rate.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week allowed overseas investors to buy $5 billion more bonds with a five-year maturity sold by infrastructure companies,boosting permitted foreign investment in corporate debentures to $20 billion.
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