IDBI arranging loan for Reliance Power plant

IDBI Bank (IDBIBANK.NS : 0 0) will fund a sizeable portion of a Rs 130 billion ($2.64 billion) loan for Reliance Power's ultra-mega power project in southern India, a bank official said on Monday.

The state-run bank, which is the lead arranger, hoped to complete the loan in the next seven months, and would start talking to other banks in the next month, B. K. Batra, the group head of corporate banking, said.

"We have already completed its appraisal. We have sanctioned our part of the assistance," he said, adding IDBI was funding a sizeable part of the rupee and foreign currency loan for the Krishnapatnam power project.

India's peak power deficit is expected to widen to 12.6 per cent in 2009/10 (April/March) from 11.9 per cent in 2008/09.

The country has embarked upon a program to scale up its generation capacity by developing 4 GW ultra-mega power projects.

Reliance Power, a part of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, has won three of the four mega power projects awarded so far. Tata Power has won the other.