In a first, Infrastructure lender IIFCL, which has been mainly focused on roads and power projects, is looking to work closely with the Indian Railways.

To begin with, IIFCL Projects Ltd, a subsidiary of IIFCL, will start providing ‘advisory services’ including appraisal of Railway projects in public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

“We are keen to work with the Railways and a memorandum of understanding is likely to be signed for this purpose between IIFCL and Railways,” SB Nayar, Chairman and Managing Director, India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL), told BusinessLine .

IIFCL Projects, which was set up in February 2012, will also help in loan syndication for Railway PPP projects that are bankable, said Chief Executive Officer Deepak Chatterjee.

Advisory services could also be provided around structuring of projects, he added. IIFCL Projects offer of project advisory services comes at a time when the Railways is trying to mop up funds through PPP route for building infrastructure. SBI Caps is also actively in discussion with Railways for project advisory services.

So far, for PPP projects, different directorates of Railways have driven the projects and have engaged with different consultants such as PwC, EY and legal firms for drafting agreements. Indian Railways plans to raise ₹5,781 crore from PPP in the current fiscal. Last year, the Ministry had made a list of sanctioned projects of over ₹12,000 crore into which investments could be made.

Line capacity expansion

The identified projects for which broad investment models were also developed include freight lines, electrification and signalling systems to enhance line capacity, factories to build coaches and wagons.

Railways already hasover 2,473 km of projects involving investments worth ₹18,619 crore, which are at different levels of implementation.

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