Hyderabad: The TS government is keen to issue infrastructure bonds to non-resident Indians (NRIs) from Telangana to raise funds for infrastructure projects in the state.
The TS government has lined up several infra projects in Hyderabad and Tier-II cities like Warangal, Karimnagar, Khammam but these have not moved forward due to paucity of funds.
The TS government wants to tap the savings of NRIs from Telangana by offering attractive interest rates. For this, it needs to obtain permission from the Centre.
States like Gujarat and Kerala are also seeking Centre's permission to issue infra bonds to NRIs.
The Centre had in the late 1990s introduced the SBI Resurgent India Bonds to raise revenues from overseas players for the infrastructure sector but withdrew it later.
The TS government is planning to offer 10 per cent interest on its infra bonds.
NRI affairs minister K.T. Rama Rao said, “I already took up the issue with external aff-airs minister Sushma Swaraj. She responded positively and advised us to approach the Union finance ministry. I will soon meet Arun Jaitely and seek permission to issue infra bonds.”
