MUMBAI: The Kerala Infrastructure Investment Finance Board (KIIFB), an investment arm of the state government, is looking to raise as much as Rs 5,000 crore through three bond issues in the next year and half to fund large and critical infrastructure projects.
KIIFB, which completed the closure of its first masala bond issue of Rs 2,150 crore last week, is exploring also selling $250 million (Rs 1,730 crore) of dollar-denominated paper and an equal amount of clean infra bonds, deputy managing director Sanjeev Kaushik told ET. The investment firm, the first of its kind in the country, is exploring a domestic issue of Rs 1,500-2,000 crore as well, he said.
“The appetite for our instrument was encouraging. There is a lot of demand from quality long-term institutional investors. From our side, KIIFB needs to create a large pool of capital to fund projects that will push the core infrastructure needs of the state,” Kaushik said.
Founded in 1999, KIIFB acts as a special purpose vehicle to mobilise funds for infrastructure development of Kerala. It has sanctioned projects worth Rs 44,000 crore which are under various stages of execution, Kaushik said.
KIIFB is a statutory body constituted under the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Act, and has a Fund Trustee Advisory Committee headed by former comptroller and auditor general Vinod Rai. Former Reserve Bank of India deputy governor Usha Thorat and Bank of Indias non-executive chairman, G Padmanabhan, are the other two members of the committee, which ensures proper use of resources under the fund, Kaushik said.
KIIFB closed its first tranche of masala bonds on Friday, to become the first such state goveRead More – Source
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