State-owned IREDA plans to raise Rs 2,500-3,000 crore through qualified institutional placement route this fiscal as it looks to dilute another 3.76 per cent of the government holding in the company following a successful IPO in December 2023, a top company official said Monday.
The company also said it had an exposure of Rs 700 crore to the crisis-hit Gensol Engineering and it has already recovered a little over Rs 100 crore by way of various instruments, including encashing their bank guarantees as well as withdrawal of the FD money.
Gensol had acted as a financier and lessor of vehicles to the all-electric ride-hailing company Blue Smart. The Ahmedabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has already admitted to corporate insolvency proceedings against Gensol Engineering, following a petition by IREDA.
In April this year, in an interim order, Sebi barred Gensol Engineering and promoters — Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi — from the securities markets till further orders in a fund diversion and governance lapses case. “We have already raised Rs 2,005 crore last month through a QIP by way of government diluting 3.24 per cent stake.
We are planning to raise another Rs 2,500 -3000 crore in the second tranche within this fiscal,” IREDA Chairman and Managing Director Pradip Kumar Das said during an interaction with the reporters. This will give the company a further borrowing power worth Rs 30,000 crore (this fiscal), as the thumb rule says you can borrow eight times of this money, he said, adding, “We will try to optimize our equity and our borrowing so that we can optimize lending and overall minimise the borrowing cost.”
He said that the Government mandated the company’s board to dilute up to 7 per cent this fiscal; it still has scope to dilute another 3.76 per cent stake. Das said last year IREDA borrowings were at around Rs 24,000-25,000 crore. IREDA reported a 49 per cent year-on-year growth in operating profit and a 30 per cent rise in total income from operations in the first quarter of the current financial year. IREDA’s outstanding loan book surged to Rs 79,941 crore, a 26 per cent increase over the previous year, with significant contributions from solar, wind, and emerging technologies like green hydrogen, smart meters, and EVs, the company said.
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