India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL), a State-owned entity, on Tuesday made it clear that it was not looking to merge itself with the newly set up National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID), which is being positioned as the principal Development Financial Institution (DFI) for infrastructure financing in the country.

“There are no such plans. We have our plans for the future for IIFCL. Of course we would like to take the objectives of the Government forward. That is very very clear”, P.R.Jaishankar, Managing Director, IIFCL said when asked if there are any plans to merge IIFCL with NaBFID.

Stating that IIFCL would like to position itself as a leading innovative infrastructure lender, Jaishankar said that the institution would continue to roll out new innovative products in the infrastructure financing space in the coming days.

Net profit of ₹ 325 crore

IIFCL on Tuesday reported a consolidated net profit of ₹ 325 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2021. This was a 246 per cent increase over net profit of ₹ 94 crore recorded in the previous year. During 2020-21, IIFCL recorded the highest ever sanctions and disbursements of ₹ 20,892 crore and ₹ 9,460 crore respectively, on a standalone basis.

On capital raising plans, Jaishankar said that IIFCL was adequately capitalised and had capital adequacy ratio of 31 per cent. “With this capital adequacy, there is potential to do additional business of ₹ 50,000 crore. The additional capital is required thereafter”, Jaishankar said.

Jaishankar however noted that IIFCL could raise debt resources of about ₹ 15,000 crore this fiscal to fund growth. Pawan Kumar, Deputy Managing Director, IIFCL clarified that the entire ₹ 15,000 crore will be mobilised from the domestic markets.

Keeping with its strategic intent to strengthen the monitoring and surveillance systems through digitalisation, IIFCL is now in the process of putting in place an online project monitoring system, first of its kind in India, for real-time project monitoring during construction phase by integrating high-end solutions like Drones, AI etc.

Also, IIFCL is in the process of establishing an in-house research and advisory wing, which would enable the institution in further bolstering its capabilities to provide policy advocacy, feedback, remedial action, innovative products and processes to government, regulatory bodies, project authorities and other stakeholders, Jaishankar said.

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