Banks blank out builders
Banks blank out builders?, Infrastructure projects in jeopardy as wary banks refuse to lend Increasing Hesitation on the part of banks to lend to infrastructure projects has rung alarm bells in the government, as this could delay several critical current and planned projects by several months for want of funds. "Banks have also been reneging on the sanctioned terms, especially relating to interest rates agreed in the loan documentation. These include even loan documents executed in the current fiscal. Even if a couple of banks block disbursement, the entire disbursement schedule gets seriously disturbed," a finance ministry official said. Data collated by the finance ministry have shown that banks are charging above 15 per cent interest rate. This year alone, interest rates for infrastructure projects have gone up by a whopping 3 percentage points. "At this interest rate, infrastructure projects may not be viable," the official said. Banks are now stipulating variab