IDFC IDF to grow loan book to Rs 3,500 cr

The IDF assets stand at Rs 1,000 cr as of Jan, may cross Rs 1,500 cr by March

IDFC Infrastructure Debt Fund (IDF), a refinancing unit, plans to scale up its loan book to around Rs 3,500 crore what with Reserve Bank of India allowing IDFs to fund projects outside Public Private Partnership.

IDF's assets stand at Rs 1,000 crore as of January, may cross Rs 1,500 crore by March, said IDFC managing director and chief Executive Vikram Limaye said. IDF currently has a capital base of Rs 473 crore.

He said IDF, which is "AAA" rated entity, has raised Rs 703 crore by issuing bonds. This money is in turn used to refinance operating projects.

The company is looking to issue bonds worth Rs 500 crore in balance part of FY16 and have a asset base of Rs 1,500 crore by March 2016. Going beyond road sector, IDFC IDF is funding renewable energy projects as well, he said.

IDF, a non-banking finance company (NBFC) regulated by the Reserve Bank of India, were  providing refinancing support to roads projects that too running under public-private partnership (PPP). This was in line with RBI’s rule permitting IDF-NBFCs to invest in debt securities of only PPP infrastructure projects with a project authority like National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

The project could become eligible for refinance only after completing one year of commercial operation.

Now, RBI has eased the norms for IDFs and allowed them to make investments in PPP projects without a project authority and non PPP projects with minimum one year of commercial operations.

Referring to scaling down IDFC's stake in Infra Debt fund, he said, "We have a two-year time frame to reduce stake from 100% to 49%."  

"IDFC will carry out discussions with prospective investors, though there is no set deadline. The dilution could happen in combination, which is selling part of IDFC stake plus expanding capital base with fresh money from investors,"  Limaye added.