NBFCs should raise resources on sustained basis: Srei’s chief

KOLKATA: Srei Infrastructure Finance, one of the country’s leading NBFCs, on Sunday said the sector,which is passing through a liquidity crisis, should be able to raise resources on a sustained basis.The government and the regulator, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), should come out with more clarity for raising medium-to-long-term funds by the non-banking finance companies(NBFCs), the firm’s chairman Hemant Kanoria said.

“The basic raw material for the non-banking finance companies and banks, is money. The NBFCs should be able to raise resources on a sustained basis for conducting their businesses,” Kanoria told .

In a bid to address the liquidity issue, the government has taken some steps through the “partial guarantee scheme” for interim funding.

“Raising resources by NBFCs from the public is a limited option and done from time to time. It depends on the profile of the NBFC concerned. The main structural issue needs to be addressed,” Kanoria said.

Talking about the city-based company, he said lending activity is getting affected due to liquidity issues.

“Funding has become very slow. This has affected credit off take and flow of loans to infrastructure and the MSME sector. However, equipment finance is slowly picking up,”he said.

Regarding the outlook for the current fiscal ending March 31, 2020, Kanoria said that the growth in terms of disbursement will be muted, but the company will remain profitable.”