“IIFCL and Asian Development Bank will work together to develop the Indian bond market. This association will pave way for investments by the country’s insurance sector into the infrastructure sector,” according to Mr. S.K.Goel, the Chairman and Managing Director of IIFCL.
Speaking at the Suminfra meet hosted by the CII, Mr. Goel said “IIFCL and ADB will formally sign an agreement next month and work together in developing the country’s bond market. We have chosen credit rating firm CRISIL to rate these bonds. By doing so, we will be able to facilitate investments by insurance companies into the infrastructure sector.”
“Currently, investments by insurance companies into infrastructure are not allowed as the Reserve Bank of India classifies investments in infrastructure in a different category. Through this association and also providing ratings, we will be able to facilitate insurance companies keen to invest to park some funds in infrastructure sector,” he said.
“By November, we will come out with a pilot initiative aimed at developing the bond market which is crucial if we need to keep fund flow in to the infrastructure segment. The company’s overseas arm IIFCL UK, which has a corpus of over $500 million will be able to finance purchase of equipment overseas,” he said.
“We have thus far sanctioned over Rs. 48,880 crore and are keen to take part in Take Out Finance model. That means we will pitch to make entry to fund through banks. While banks will be short term lenders, we will play the role of long term lender,” he said.