PFC may fund GVK, Videocon's coal mine acquisitions overseas

On the condition that the firms bring a majority portion of the coal back to India

State-run Power Finance Corporation (PFC) today said it is in talks with GVK and Videocon to fund their coal mine acquisitions overseas on the condition that they bring a majority portion of the coal back to India.

PFC Chairman and Managing Director Satnam Singh also said the company would carve out a separate unit - Facilitation Group - to finance such coal mine acquisitions. The state-run lender may form a subsidiary for such proposals in the future.

"At present there is no plan to float any such subsidiary, but later we will see," Singh said.

The company which is engaged in funding power generation, transmission and distribution projects, plans to raise Rs 40,000 crore during the current financial year as part of its resource mobilisation plan.

"Part of the resource mobilisation target of Rs 40,000 crore for the current fiscal would come from external commercial borrowings," he said.

However, did not disclose the loan sanction target for the same period as the company is yet to announce its annual results.

PFC, which is also the nodal agency for the ultra mega power projects in the country, has set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for setting up such a project at Deoghar in Jharkhand.

The company has already allotted four such projects. Reliance Power bagged three of the four projects -- Sasan (Madhya Pradesh), Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Tilaiya (Jharkhand). Tata Power is executing the Mundra UMPP in Gujarat.