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Power Finance Corporation (PFC) has shelved its plan to foray into banking after pursuing it for several years.
“Opening a bank is not our priority. We want to focus in our core business of power sector funding,” M.K. Goel, Chairman and Managing Director and Director (Commercial) told Business Line .
This decision was taken at the company’s board meeting held on October 9. It was decided not to pursue for gaining a bank licence, he said.
The move to get away from launching a bank is seen as a change of strategy after the exit of former Chairman Satnam Singh from PFC. Singh wanted PFC to foray into banking.
Few months before his term came to an end, Singh wrote to the Finance Ministry seeking permission to allow the power sector lender to pick up stake in a public sector bank.
PFC’s dream to open a bank was made public in 2005 by then Chairman and Managing Director V.K. Garg. Singh was Director (Finance) during that period. In 2008, Singh took over as Chairman and Managing Director of PFC and pursued aggressively for obtaining a bank licence.
Renewable projects
“There are lot of growth in the power sector. PFC has also started diversification of portfolio by adding renewable projects. We have recently started funding for renewable projects,” Goel explained.
During the first quarter of 2013-14, PFC’s net worth increased by 15 per cent to Rs 23,427 crore from Rs 20,359 crore in the same quarter previous year.
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