RBI grants infrastructure finance company status to L&T Infra

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted L&T Infrastructure Finance Company (L&T Infra), a subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro (L&T), the status of `infrastructure finance company' under the non-banking finance company (NBFC) classification.

L&T Infra, a part of L&T Financial Services Group, commenced operations in January 2007 as an NBFC, to finance infrastructure projects. 

L&T Infra has so far approved a total of Rs17,133 crore in infrastructure loans and disbursed around Rs7,615 crore to industries covering energy, transportation, telecommunication and other infrastructure sectors.

The new status will enable L&T Infra to mobilise funds at cheaper rates and provide more flexibility in its lending to infrastructure projects.

The RBI classifies NBFCs engaged in financing infrastructure projects in a separate category in order to remove the lending limits.

L&T Infra offers financing structures for projects, equipment and for other infrastructure development requirements in the industry segments covering;

Power, including captive and merchant power plants, transmission and distribution projects, small and medium sized hydroelectric projects, independent thermal and renewable energy projects and integrated coal / lignite mining projects;
 
Transportation, including development of roads and bridges, projects for National Highway Authority of India, state highway projects, intercity road projects and urban / rural roads;
 
Ports and shipping, including port development projects, port handling equipment, bulk carriers, tankers, feeder vessels, dredgers and supply vessels;
 
Railways, covering rail corridor development, acquisition of wagons and containers and construction of railway bridges;
 
Aviation, involving aircraft, helicopters, simulators and ground handling equipment;
 
Urban infrastructure such as water supply, sewerage, solid waste management as also SEZs and IT parks;

Agri infrastructure such as mega grain procurement centres and silos, large cold storage, cold chains and agri infrastructure projects involving construction of irrigation projects, dams and canals and pipelines;
 
Tourism infrastructure like hotels and theme parks; and
 
Social infrastructure such as hospitals and educational institutes.