Srei Infra plans to raise Rs.30 bn from domestic banks

Kolkata, Dec 8 (IANS) Non-banking finance company Srei Infrastructure Finance Ltd is planning to raise Rs.30 billion (Rs.3,000 crore) from domestic banks in the second half of the current fiscal, a top official said here Monday.

Due to difficulties in raising money in the present economic scenario, the company has scaled down disbursal target for 2008-09.

'Its difficult to achieve a disbursal target of Rs.12,000 crore (Rs.120 billion) projected earlier, mainly because of difficulties in raising money,' Srei chairman and managing director Hemant Kanoria told reporters on the sidelines of launching a rural job portal for Srei Sahaj e-Village Ltd.

'We have already disbursed Rs.4,950 crore (Rs.49.5 billion) during the first half of the current fiscal. Last fiscal, we disbursed a total of Rs.5,000 crore (Rs.50 billion),' he said.

The company has plans to disburse Rs.20-30 billion more this financial year.

According to Kanoria, Srei is finding it difficult to raise money as the external commercial borrowing route is closed for non-banking finance companies.

During the first half of 2008-09, the company's loan portfolio grew by 60 percent, but October and November were dull months, he added.