State-run Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) has received the status of an infrastructure finance company (IFC) from the Reserve Bank of India.
With this, REC can take an additional lending exposure of up to 5 per cent of its owned funds in case of a single borrower and up to 10 per cent of its owned funds for a group of borrowers. The total permissible exposure would thus be 40 per cent of owned funds in case of a group of borrowers, a company statement said.
The firm would also be able to issue infrastructure bonds and raise funds up to $500 million through external commercial borrowing in a year.
REC is the second company after Power Finance Corporation (PFC) to be accorded the IFC status by RBI. PFC was accorded the status in July.


