IREDA mulls over FPO

New Delhi: State-owned non-banking finance firm Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) is mulling follow-on public offer (FPO) as well as perpetual debt to meet its future capital requirements and onward lending for renewables. The Rs2,150 crore initial public offering (IPO) was oversubscribed about 39 times in November 2023. IREDA Chairman and Managing Director Pradip Kumar Das said the company is planning an FPO as well as perpetual debt for meeting future capital requirements of the company and onward lending mainly for renewable energy projects.

He further said the loan disbursements are expected to increase during the current fiscal year in view of the government’s push for renewable energy projects in the country. He said the company’s loan disbursements increased from Rs16,071 crore in 2021-22 to Rs21,639 crore in 2022-23 and further to Rs25,089 crore in 2023-24. Loan disbursements by IREDA increased about 16 per cent in 2023-24, he said, adding that the company has a borrowing plan of Rs 24,200 crore for the current fiscal. With increase in loan disbursements in 2024-25, the company will require more money than planned borrowing this fiscal to meet its fund requirements, he said.

On the FPO, he pointed out that the market is supportive and this is the right time to go to the market for raising funds via FPO. However, he did not specify when IREDA will go for the FPO and that “it is difficult to tell whether it would be this fiscal or next”.