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IFC mulls hike in amount of annual loans in India
By agencies
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Monday, 09 May 2005, 19:30 IST
NEW DELHI: International Finance Corporation, World Bank's private sector lending arm, plans to increase its lending to about $500 million every year for various infrastructure and other sectors in India from next year.
"We are in the process of finalizing loans totaling $150 million in the next two months before the end of our financial year on June 30. This will take up the total lending this year to about $400 million," IFC-World Bank Senior Investment Officer (South Asia region), Shalabh Tandon said.
The multilateral funding agency plans to increase this amount further to $500 million next year, he said, but added that it would depend on up-coming projects.
IFC, which recently picked up 10 percent equity stake in the 192 MW Allain Duhangan hydropower project, is also open to take equity stake in other projects that it is funding, he said. The agency has also identified a private project in rural electrification, he said, but declined to elaborate.
Allain Duhangan is being built in Himachal Pradesh at a cost of $192 million. IFC would give $42 million loan and $7 million equity financing in Malana Power Company, a joint venture of LNJ Bhilwara Group and Norway's Stratkraft Norfund Power Ltd, which will execute the project.
Allain Duhangan is the second project in the power sector, where IFC has picked up
equity. First was GVK Group's power project in Andhra Pradesh, where it acquired 8 percent stake.
IFC has also identified private projects in rural electrification, distribution and transmission, Tandon said, but did not disclose the name of the proposed projects or the states where these projects would be located.