BackInland Waterways Authority plans Rs660 crore fundraising by March
The fundraising will help augment the resource base for Inland Waterways Authority to develop eco friendly river water transport networks
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Mumbai: The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is planning a Rs660-crore bond sale to domestic investors by March, a top official said.
“We raised Rs340 crore last year at a very competitive rate and will be raising the remaining Rs640 crore from the Rs1,000-crore leg-room given to us, this year," IWAI vice-chairman Pravir Pandey told PTI over the weekend.
The debt raising will help augment the resource base for the authority, which has a target to invest Rs1,700 crore this fiscal on multiple projects as it goes out to develop the cheaper, safer and eco-friendly river water networks for goods movement.
The authority has tie-ups with the World Bank for its funding requirements and is also expecting accruals worth Rs2,000 crore from the money set aside for it in the Central Road Fund (CRF), he said.
Pandey said 5% of the CRF corpus, collected through higher duties and levies on the sale of motor fuels, has been set aside for developing inland waterways. The Cabinet will be clearing a proposal to help the money flow to IWAI and Parliament is likely to clear the same in the winter session, he explained.
He said the authority last year sold debt at 7.9% coupon, which was the same rate at which Power Finance Corp. raised debt. It has a panel of eight selected merchant banks it works with for the fund raising activities and will continue with the same, he said.
The authority gets money from the World Bank at 0.25% per annum plus the hedging costs, he said, adding it wants to reduce its reliance on the multilateral institution going forward. “We value the partnership more because of the technical help which we get from the World Bank."
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