India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL), an infrastructure lender, plans on investing Rs 2,000 crore in infrastructure bonds along with Rs 1,500 crore in infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) by the end of March 2022.

Managing Director, P R Jaishankar said they hope to invest around Rs 2,000 crore in bonds and Rs 1,500 crore in loans (InvITs). So, they hope to complete an investment of an estimated Rs 3,500 crore in this financial year.

In the previous week, the company had made an investment of Rs 325 crore in non-convertible debentures (NCD) which had been issued by the infrastructure investment trust, Virescent Renewable Energy Trust (VRET).

The 10-year bond has provided IIFCL with a coupon of 7.9% and an annualised yield of 8.2%.

Jaishankar said this investment in bonds issued by InvIT will assist to develop a long-term bond market in India while providing long-term financial assistance for the InvITs.This will further help to improve the asset quality of the lender.

In the last fiscal, the company recorded its highest sanctions and disbursements worth Rs 20,892 crore and Rs 9,460 crore each, on a standalone basis.

In the initial nine months of this financial year, the company’s standalone sanctions reached around Rs 18,000 crore and disbursements to Rs 6,000 crore. Jaishankar mentioned that these sanction and disbursement amounts will be higher in this financial year in comparison with FY21.

Regarding the non-performing assets (NPAs), he said the lender looks forward to improving asset quality along with making the balance sheet stronger (concerning fundamentals).

The net NPA ratio is expected to be sub-5% and the gross NPA ratio to be less than 10% by March 2022.

Image Source

---

Also read: KKR-backed Virescent sets up India's first renewable energy trust