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Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) has announced the public issue of the third tranche of long term infrastructure bonds of face value of Rs 5,000, in the nature of secured, redeemable, non-convertible debentures, having benefits under Section 80CCF of the Income Tax Act, 1961, for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 3700 crore.

This is the issue of the third tranche of long term infrastructure bonds having benefits under Section 80CCF of the Income Tax Act, 1961, by the company within the overall aggregate limit of Rs 5000 crore for the financial year 2011-12.

The issue of tranche 3 bonds opened for subscription on March 19, 2012, and will close on March 30, 2012, or earlier, as may be decided by the board of the company. In the event of an early closure or extension of the issue, the company shall ensure that notice of the same is provided to the prospective investors through newspaper advertisements on or before such earlier or extended date of issue closure.

Ratings: The tranche 3 bonds have been rated as (ICRA)AAA by ICRA and Fitch AAA(Ind) by Fitch. While the ICRA rating indicates stable outlook and the highest degree of safety for timely servicing of financial obligations, the Fitch rating indicates a long term stable outlook.

Issue structure: The tranche 3 bonds will be issued in two series - Series 1 tranche 3 bonds and series 2 tranche 3 bonds and will carry an interest rate of 8.43% per annum. The tranche 3 bonds will carry a minimum lock-in period of five years from the deemed date of allotment and can be redeemed after 10 years from the deemed date of allotment. The tranche 3 bonds also have a buy back option at the end of five years. The minimum subscription will be two tranche 3 bonds and in multiples of one tranche 3 bond thereafter. For the purpose of fulfilling the requirement of minimum subscription of two tranche 3 bonds, an applicant may choose to apply for two tranche 3 bonds of the same series or two tranche 3 bonds across different series.

Security: The tranche 3 bonds are fully secured with first floating paripassu charge over certain receivables of the company and first fixed paripassu charge over specified immoveable properties of the company. The security cover is 1.0 times of the outstanding tranche 3 bonds at any point in time.

80CCF benefit: The bonds have been classified as long term infrastructure bonds and are being issued in terms of Section 80CCF of the Income Tax Act, 1961. In accordance with Section 80CCF, an amount, not exceeding Rs 20,000 per annum in the year of investment, paid or deposited as subscription to long term infrastructure bonds during the previous year relevant to the assessment year beginning April 01, 2012, shall be deducted in computing the taxable income of a resident individual or hindu undivided family (HUF). In the event that any applicant applies for tranche 3 bonds exceeding Rs 20,000 per annum in the year of the investment, the aforesaid tax benefit shall be available to such applicant only to the extent of Rs 20,000 per annum in the year of the investment.

The company has raised approximately Rs 1200 crore in the first two tranches of infra bonds. The funds raised through the public issue of tranche 1 bonds, tranche 2 and tranche 3 bonds will be utilized towards infrastructure lending as defined by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in the Regulations issued by it from time to time, after meeting the expenditures of, and related to the issue.

The lead managers to the bond issue are Karvy Investor Services Limited, HDFC Bank Limited -Investment Banking Division, ICICI Securities Limited, JM Financial Consultants Private Limited and IDFC Capital Limited. The co-lead managers to the issue are Bajaj Capital Limited, RR Investors Capital Services Private Limited and SMC Capitals Limited. The registrar to the issue is Karvy Computershare Private Limited.