Cabinet stamp to make IFCI a public entity, to infuse Rs 60 cr

New Delhi: Government today approved raising its stake in IFCI Ltd to 51 percent by infusing Rs 60 crore in the country’s oldest financial institution. “The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, approved infusion of Rs 60 crore in Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) Ltd to make it a government company by way of acquisition of preference shares from existing shareholder(s),” an official statement said. IFCI was set up in 1948 as a statutory corporation under the Industrial Finance Corporation Act, 1948. [caption id=“attachment_519044” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] The Act has since been repealed by the Industrial Finance Corporation (Transfer of Undertaking and Repeal) Act, 1993 and IFCI Ltd was registered under the Companies Act, 1956 on March 31, 1993, it said. The current shareholding of Government of India in IFCI after inclusion of the preference share capital was 47.93 percent, it said. Therefore, IFCI is not a Government Company under section 2(45) of the Companies Act, 2013. A contribution of Rs 60 crore to the capital of the company would raise the shareholding of the Government to 51 percent. The Finance Ministry had sought the Cabinet approval to hike its stake in the IFCI to 51 percent by pumping in Rs 60 crore, and make it a ‘government company’. IFCI’s total paid-up capital of about Rs 1,925 crore comprised Rs 1,662 crore as equity capital and nearly Rs 264 crore as preference share capital. PTI