Af Ferguson To Ink Sidbi Revamp

The Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi) has appointed A F Ferguson to prepare a reconstruction plan. The consultant is expected to submit its report by July which would form the basis for amendments to the Sidbi Act.

"We have appointed the consultant to look at new business segments which we can enter in the changed environment. We will decide on what should be our strategy under the changed scenario. We can no longer depend only the refinance facilities from the Reserve Bank of India and government. The future course of action would be decided after getting a report from the consultant, hopefully by July," Sidbi chairman P B Nimbalkar said here today.

 

He also said that Sidbi is in talks with German development bank KfW for DM34 million line of credit and special drawing rights of $ 16 million From Rome-headquartered International Fund for Agriculture.

Nimbalkar, however, ruled out any possibility of an initial public offering in the immediate future saying that the present Rs 450 crore equity was sufficient. He said the bank was expecting to mop up over Rs 1,000 crore through priority-sector bonds next fiscal and this year, it had already raised Rs 900 crore of the planned Rs 1,000 crore borrowings through the ongoing priority sector bonds till date and hopes to meet this fiscal's target of Rs 1,000 crore by March-end.

Nimbalkar said the bank was in final stages of signing an agreement for a DM34 million line of credit from KfW and was negotiating for a Y50 billion credit from Japan Bank for International Cooperation. Sidbi has thus far received Rs 4,000 crore through six lines of credit from JBIC and two from KfW.