Credit to infra firms up three-fold in Apr-Nov, 2009

Led by power and roads & ports, the net bank credit to the infrastructure sector has nearly trebled to Rs 64,321 crore during the first eight months of the current fiscal, over April-November 2008-09, the Economic Survey said today.

"Net bank credit to infrastructure ... Increased substantially in the current fiscal," the Economic Survey 2009-10, tabled in the Parliament, said.

"Considering that there has been a steep decline in total industrial credit during the current year, this is particularly important," it added.

During the entire 2008-09 fiscal, the total net bank credit to the infrastructure sector was Rs 64,852 crore.

However, in the eight months to November, 2009, power alone cornered Rs 37,806 crore, while roads & ports took away Rs 18,408 crore. The telecom sector, which showed a negative 'increment flow of bank credit' during April-November, 2008, took Rs 761 crore.

The Survey said that infrastructure industries have started deriving significant resources through private placement of debt.

Although it did not provide comparable figures, shipping sector showed a big jump in garnering debt of Rs 2,250 crore through private placement during April-December, 2009-10 fiscal, against Rs 436 crore in the entire 2008-09 fiscal.