IIFCL lines up ₹30,000-cr infra funding for this fiscal

IIFCL has decided to sanction loans worth ₹30,000 crore for various segments of infrastructure across roads, airports, ports and renewable energy sector. It would be the highest ever loan sanction in any year while disbursement would also be a record high of ₹15,000 crore to various infrastructure projects by March 2023. Since its interest rates are very competitive, IIFCL is a preferred financier for infrastructure projects developers. With the improvement in financials, the net worth has increased from ₹10,306 crore in FY'20 to ₹12,273 crore currently. The improvement in various financial parameters provided an opportunity to lower benchmark lending rate and bring down the cost of borrowing without compromising on spread.

IIFCL focuses on financing greenfield projects of national significance. Such projects include Yamuna International Airport Private Limited (Jewar airport), Navi Mumbai International Airport, Mopa Airport in Goa, SJVN Green Energy Ltd and PNC Meerut Haridwar Highways Pvt Ltd. So far, the infra financing firm has sanctioned around 650 projects with a total outlay of ₹11.5 lakh crore and out of them, 500 are PPP Projects, he added. Jaishankar said it has started providing financial assistance to Infrastructure Investment Trusts in FY22 and has so far sanctioned ₹4,400 crore for such entities. IIFCL invested ₹975 crore in project bonds, including around ₹324 crore of bonds in renewable energy InvIT, during 2021-22. Last year, after clarification by the Reserve Bank of India, IIFCL initiated subscribing to infrastructure project bonds and lending to InvITs.