Macquarie-SBI fund raises $1 Billion for infrastructure
Printer Print Email Email
Mumbai: In a bid to make funds available for infrastructure improvement, India's banking giant State Bank of India and Australia's Macquarie Group have launched an infrastructure fund to raise up to $3 billion. The fund mainly aimed at investing in projects in the south Asian nations has already raised $1.37 billion, of which $887 million have been committed by international investors while $150 million being invested by SBI. India has said it needs about $500 billion to repair its creaky infrastructure such as ports, roads and power units. "Traditional methods of debt financing must be supported with equity funding," said SBI's Managing Director R. Sridharan told Reuters. SBI and Macquarie will hold 45 percent each in the joint venture and International Finance (IFC) will hold the rest. Macquarie and IFC have also committed $150 million each to the fund. Analysts are of the opinion that heavy infrastructure investment would also help arrest an economic slowdown in the world's second-most populous nation. Investments will be made in traditional infrastructure assets that generate long-term cash flows, such as transport infrastructure, telecom, power and logistics projects.

siliconindia