The
Airports Authority of India (AAI) has asked the finance ministry to be
allowed to float Rs 3,000 crore of tax-free infrastructure bonds, a
fund-raising window opened in the recent Union Budget.
"We have asked the finance ministry to
allocate us Rs 3,000 crore from the Rs 10,000-crore issue that has not
been allocated to an authority. We have written a letter," said a top
AAI official, who did not want to be identified.
Allowing AAI, he said, to raise Rs
3,000 crore through bonds would help the authority raise cheaper loans.
"Fund raising through bonds brings down the interest rate on our
borrowings by around two percentage points," the official added.
In the Budget, Finance Minister Pranab
Mukherjee allowed companies to raise Rs 60,000 crore through tax-free
infra bonds. AAI was not allotted any amount. National Highways
Authority of India, Indian Railway Finance Corporation and India
Infrastructure Finance Company can raise Rs 10,000 crore each. National
Housing Bank, Housing and Urban Development Corporation and the Small
Industries Development Bank of India have permission to raise Rs 5,000
crore each. The ports sector can raise Rs 10,000 crore.
AAI's earlier requests to raise cash
through bonds were turned down on the plea that buyers for these were
limited and allowing AAI to access the route would affect the plans of
other government agencies. The earlier AAI proposals were for raising Rs
5,000 crore.
AAI, which owns 128 airports across the
country, has never raised money through tax-free bonds. It has always
borrowed from the open market. The mini-ratna company, with 14
profit-making airports, registered a profit of Rs 846 crore in 2010-11,
on revenue of Rs 5,139 crore. The airport operator has also seen annual
earnings grow a little over Rs 100 crore through user development fee
collection at airports.
The state-owned operator plans to upgrade
airports. It upgraded around 20 airports in the 11th five-year Plan
(2007-12). The upgrade of Kolkata and Chennai airports is underway.
AAI is also working on a proposal to
develop the city side - commercial aspects - of Kolkata, Visakhapatnam,
Bhubaneswar, Lucknow, Indore, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Guwahati and Jaipur
airports, through public-private partnerships.
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