Refinance package from secys' panel soon

The Committee of Secretaries, which is receiving representations from affected sectors in the wake of the financial crisis, is likely to finalise a bigger refinance facility to ramp up lending to the infrastructure sector, which is facing difficulties in getting private funding, a finance ministry official said.

Further details as to how the increased refinance will be routed were not known. In the fiscal package announced earlier this month, the plan was to use state-owned India Infrastructure Finance Company (IIFCL) as the infrastructure-refinancing firm.

The committee may also finalise a strategy to provide assistance to 10-15 large infrastructure projects to achieve financial closure, sources said.

Many projects have been held back due to a lack of financing for the last one year. Officials are of the view that once these projects get going, demand will pick up in sectors like cement, steel, machinery and automobile.