The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently announced that investments in telecom towers will be treated as infrastructure. This gives certain benefits in terms of capital that has to be set aside and makes the overall loan a little cheaper.
In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Hemant Kanoria, CMD of SREI Infrastructure Finance said, "The difference to SREI would be that, as per earlier guidelines, we were not able to get infrastructure finance company classification. Now, the telecom tower is also included as infrastructure asset, so we would qualify." Talking about their application to RBI for infrastructure company status, he said, "Yes, we have made the application and we have already complied with all the guidelines of infrastructure finance company (IFC). Now, we are waiting for RBI's clearance." Below is the verbatim transcript of Kanoria's interview with Latha Venkatesh and Gautam Broker of CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video. Q: The RBI recently announced that the telecom towers will be included under infrastructure, does it make life easier for a company like you in anyway? A: Last year, RBI had come out with the guideline and they had two sets of guidelines in the month of July. One guideline was for the NBFCs and one for the banking industry. For the banking industry, telecom tower was included as an infrastructure asset. The banks could finance telecom towers, which could qualify for an infrastructure facility. Whereas NBFCs were not included and it may have been some inadvertent mistake that for the NBFCs, telecom towers were not included as infrastructure. So, RBI has just made both the guidelines where the banking sector already could invest in telecom towers and now they have made NBFCs also to be able to invest in telecom towers which is infrastructure so that is what just a classification. Q: DoesnDiscover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
