IDFC reins in year's growth aim to 20%

On the backdrop of a slowing in GDP growth and policy uncertainty, Infrastructure Development Finance Company , the country’s largest lender in this sector, has set a target to grow its balance sheet by 20 per cent this year.

Rajiv B Lall, vice-chairman and managing director, said at the company’s annual general meeting: “Earlier, we had set a target of growing three times in three years; then, it turned out to be an ambitious one. What we are guiding now is replicating last year's growth of 20 per cent in balance sheet and profit. We are being cautiously optimistic.”

The gross loan book grew 28 per cent to Rs 48,888 crore as on March 31. The net loan book also grew 28 per cent, to Rs 48,185 crore, accounting for 79 per cent of IDFC's total assets, as compared to 76 per cent during the same period last year.

Deepak S Parekh, chairman, said energy was 35 per cent of the total portfolio, followed by telecom and transport with 33 and 25 per cent, respectively. “Going forward, the prospects will depend on policy issues dealt by the government. The slowdown in taking policy decisions and raw material for the power sector, and scams in telecom, have hit the infrastructure industry,” he said. In this difficult economic scenario, a conservative approach was warranted, he said.

CCP conversion
Khazanah Nasional Bhd, investment arm of the government of Malaysia and Actis Hawk Ltd have converted their compulsory convertible cumulative preference shares (CCPs) issued by IDFC to equity shares. The transactions were worth Rs 840 crore.

The shares were issued by IDFC to Sipadan Investments (Mauritius) ltd, an arm of Khazanah, and to Actis. Parekh said in 2011-12 the equity base was expanded after CCPs of Rs 100 each, aggregating to Rs 840 crore, issued to two investors were converted into equity shares at a price of Rs 176 a share. The total number of equity shares issued to the investors were 47,727,272.

The shares issued to Sipadan were worth Rs 380 crore and those for Actis were Rs 460 crore, he said.

He also said the company made three tranches of public issues of Long Term Infrastructure Bonds of a face value of Rs 3,000 each, collecting an aggregate of Rs 1,387 crore from a little over 700,000 investors. “This has further enhanced the brand impact of IDFC in the retain market,” said Parekh.

The company in 2011-12, in addition to syndicated loans, signed a $60-million line of credit agreement with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation for funding projects with a Japanese interest. Further, the company has listed a $1.5-billion Medium Term Note (MTN) programme on the Singapore Stock Exchange, which would help in tapping into the international market in a bigger way through bond issuance.