Infrastructure bonds, which were relied upon the most in 2024-25 (FY25) by commercial banks to raise funds through the domestic debt capital market amid lagging deposit growth, seem to have lost their sheen in FY26. So far in FY26, no bank has tapped the domestic debt capital market to raise funds via infra bonds, and the expectation is that the amount raised through this route will be significantly lower than that last year, unless credit demand picks up.
'Although we are facing constraints related to lending and resource mobilisation, the government is aware of these.'
The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has named Ravneet Kaur, a Punjab cadre IAS officer of 1988 batch, as chairperson of the Competition Commission of India (CCI). Kaur will hold the post for five years or until attaining the age of 65. She is the second woman to serve in an 'economic regulator' role after Madhabi Puri Buch, who was appointed chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India last year and the first woman to head the country's chief national competition regulator.
Only NIIF has stayed the course as a viable infrastructure financing institution.
Funds raised were to support financing activities and meet working capital needs.
In financial year 2010-11, the likes of Larsen & Toubro, India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited, Power Finance Corporation and IDFC issued these in tranches.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the Indian Infrastructure Financial Corporation Limited (IIFCL) will evolve a financing mechanism for giving increased support to infrastructure projects.
Industry players believe the new DFI model will be initially risk capital, which will then be used to mobilise additional resources from development agencies such as World Bank.
"Till September we have refinanced loans worth Rs 1,500 crore (Rs 15 billion). We will lend another Rs 3,500-4,000 crore (Rs 35-40 billion) to REC and PFC by the end of this fiscal," IIFCL Chief Executive Pradeep Kumar said.
The government and Reserve Bank of India are working on opening a massive Rs 75,000 crore refinance window to provide concessional funds for infrastructure, housing and small and medium enterprises by partly leveraging the country's foreign exchange reserves.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday gave its approval to establish a special purpose vehicle for funding infrastructure projects
The World Bank and India have concluded negotiations for loans worth $3.2 billion for recapitalising state-run banks and funding for the India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd, a state-run lender to infrastructure projects.
The Planning Commission has mooted an idea to expand funding from the Reserve Bank of India to the India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd, so that infrastructure projects can access finance at lower cost from the government-owned IIFCL.
With fixed deposit rates coming down, bonds are once again proving to be an attractive investment.
India's infrastructure sectors, for long shunned by investors due to long gestation periods and hazy policies, have finally become attractive.
The India Infrastructure Finance Company (IIFCL), which raised Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) in the last fiscal for refinancing banks for infrastructure lending, on Tuesday said the banks may avail of this facility in the next seven months.
The key to last week's revival package, in the infrastructure sector, is the two-year old India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) and the efforts of its chairman and managing director, Surinder Singh Kohli.
In a note, titled 'IIFCL financing for PPP projects,' sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Ahluwalia wrote, 'It was pointed out in the meeting that the term of the current CMD (chairman and managing director) of IIFCL ends on March 10. The FS (finance secretary) had indicated that the term can be extended. Action on this front should be expedited to avoid loss of momentum.'
State-owned India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd has tied up with Infrastructure Development Finance Company, and global equity investors Citigroup Inc and Blackstone Group to launch a $5 billion infrastructure fund.
The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group-promoted Sasan Power was Rs 2,500 crore short of the roughly Rs 15,000 crore it needed to borrow for the project. Now, India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd has agreed to lend around Rs 2,500 crore. A consortium of 12 domestic banks have already committed around Rs 12,500 crore, with State Bank of India and Power Finance Corporation leading the pack, with Rs 3,500 crore and Rs 1,800 crore respectively.
The Reserve Bank has given an in-principle nod to invest $5 billion of foreign exchange reserves annually in infrastructure projects through two subsidiaries of India Infrastructure Finance Company.India's forex reserves stood at $266.52 billion as on November 2 and experts believe that they should be utilised at least for financing infrastructure projects.
India Infrastructure Finance Company has joined hands with Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services to develop and finance 10,000 MW of power generation and transmission, entailing an investment of upto Rs 35,000 crore (Rs 350 billion).
Booked between 2007 and 2011, out of the total 32,700 residential units under various Jaypee Infratech (JIL) projects, at least 20,000 homes are yet to be delivered. Supreme Court documents show that, till last March, Jaypee had issued 7,997 offers of possession to homebuyers while executing only 6,530 sub-lease deeds. These deeds offer homebuyers possession rights but, unlike registration, does not guarantee absolute ownership.
Why do we need a bad bank, owned by the banks themselves when there are at least 28 ARCs around, asks Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $700 million in loans to support the Indian government's efforts to accelerate investment in infrastructure which the country requires to ensure strong economic growth.
Likely to select from 3 shortlisted; follows Sanjeev Kaushik's refusal to take the job if made to retire from IAS
The fourth finance ministerial meeting, to be held in New Delhi, will have Finance Minister P Chidambaram from the Indian side and Hyun Oh-seok, Deputy Prime Minister and minister of strategy and finance, from South Korea.
Seventeen shooters, prominent among who is Beijing Olympics gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, are among 45 athletes selected by the government for financial assistance under the Target Olympic Podium (TOP) scheme.
The Finance Ministry is considering a proposal to rope in professionals from the private sector for appointment of chairman and CEO-cum-managing director in state-owned financial institutions as it looks for talent from a wider pool of applicants.
India needs $800 billion (Rs 50 lakh crore) annually if the economy is to grow at 7 per cent, Financial Services Secretary Hasmukh Adia said.
Jaitley said the global volatility has thrown up challenges
The finance minister was speaking after launching the maiden IDF scheme of IIFCL Mutual Fund in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Stepped up public expenditure must be accompanied by focused policies, advises Vinayak Chatterjee.
Officials asked what the point was in going through banks when the government has to give guarantees.
Elaborating on this theme, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan pointed out that if the power sector had not been opened up through reforms initiated in 2003, India would still have been in darkness.
India will get $35 billion from Japan over the next five years for developmental projects, including building of smart cities and next generation infrastructure as also cleaning of the Ganga, as Premier Shinzo Abe on Monday pledged to partner Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "ambitious" vision of inclusive development.
The government had committed to increasing spending in infrastructure
Delays in implementing power projects, mainly due to fuel issues, could turn Rs 1 lakh crore of bank loans into NPAs if prompt action is not taken, according to a study by KPMG.
Budget should raise revenues & reduce spending to increase capital expenditure.
The overriding objective of the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) must be adequate economic return, not financial return.
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