Kolkata-based Srei Infrastructure Finance plans to loan Rs 7,000-8,000 crore towards infrastructure projects.
?We plan to invest about Rs 7,000-8,000 crore for various infrastructure projects this financial year,? said Hemant Kanoria, chairman & managing director, Srei Group.
The company will be raising this money through a combination of debt and ECBs. It is yet to decide on the projects where it will be investing this money.
This fiscal, the investment is lower than the last fiscal. ?We disbursed about Rs 9000 crore last financial year. This time, we will be very selective as to where we invest. Infrastructure financing is a long term return business and has become lucrative after the government’s huge focus towards it,? he added.
Srei Infrastructure finances bridges, approach roads, bypasses and roads, independent and captive power projects and small-to-medium sized power projects and equipment in the power sector; port equipment, private berths and container handling jetties in the port sector.
The company’s shares on the BSE on Friday closed at Rs 89.90, down 1.96%.
He added that the group is yet to take a final decision on the public offering of Viom Networks and will be deciding on it by this fiscal. Tata Teleservices holds 54% stake while the rest 46% is owned by Srei Infrastructure Finance. ?Telcos have understood the importance of focusing on their core business by sharing towers. ?In the initial stages, all the 2G towers will just have an additional slot for providing 3G services and we really won’t be constructing more telecom towers,? said Kanoria.
Viom, which now has 37,000 towers with 80,000 tenants, plans to add up to 25,000 towers in the next two years. ?The telcos have not yet started approaching us for the 3G tower sharing,? he added.
Srei Infra Finance posted a revenue of Rs 3,243.38 crore during quarter ended June 30, 2010, compared with Rs 1,532.70 crore during the corresponding quarter last fiscal, registering a huge increase of 111.61%.