By Aparajita Gupta, IANS,
Kolkata : West Bengal-based infrastructure finance company SREI plans to increase the corpus of its project financing business to around Rs.50 billion in the current fiscal.
Hemant Kanoria, chairman and managing director of SREI Infrastructure Finance Ltd, said: “We plan to increase our project financing business in India to Rs.40-Rs.50 billion this fiscal.”
In the last fiscal, the corpus was around Rs.10 billion, which means the company plans to increase it fourfold this year.
SREI occupies 30 percent market share in infrastructure equipment financing in India. The primary activity of this type of financing is leasing and hiring infrastructure, construction equipment and machinery for various construction companies and small and medium scale enterprises engaged in civil and mechanical construction.
Kanoria told IANS: “We have 40-50 percent year-on-year growth in infrastructure equipment financing and we plan to maintain that this year too.”
The company is currently developing an integrated auto-industrial park in Kharagpur in West Bengal, which is a joint venture between SREI and the West Bengal Industrial Infrastructure Development Corp (WBIIDC). The project will cost around Rs.30-Rs.40 billion, he said.
SREI is advisor to the Uttar Pradesh government on the Ganga Expressway project along with consultancy firm Rail India Technical and Economic Services Ltd (RITES).
The public-private partnership (PPP) project would run along the river Ganga stretching 1,047 km. This will connect Greater Noida to Ballia ensuring high-speed connectivity between the eastern and western boundaries of the state.
The company, which has bagged seven road projects in various parts of the country, is contemplating taking over an engineering SEZ project in Maharashtra.
“We have already got a proposal to take over the engineering project. Now let’s see,” Kanoria said.
The company has also entered into a 50:50 joint venture with BNP Paribas Lease Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of the globally reputed BNP Paribas.
SREI is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).