Government plans Telecom Finance Corporation by 2017

The government proposes to set up a Telecom Finance Corporation (TFC) in the country within the 12th Plan period (2012-17), Telecommunications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said here Monday.

"It would be registered as non-banking finance company and non-deposit infrastructure finance company. The Telecom Finance Corporation would be a public sector unit under the administrative control of Department of Telecom," he said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

The main sources of funds for TFC shall be through issue of taxable and tax-free bonds. Other sources of funds will be term loans from banks or financial institutions and off-shore borrowings and borrowings from multilateral agencies such as Asian Development Bank, International Monetory Fund, World Bank and other sovereign funds.