Date:23/08/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/08/23/stories/2006082305881700.htm

Business

IFC to invest $500 m in India

Special Correspondent

`Biotechnology and pharma are the potential sectors'

NEW DELHI: The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private lending arm of the World Bank, is likely to invest about $500 million in India during the current fiscal. In the previous fiscal (July-June), the IFC's exposure in the country was over $400 million, the IFC South Asia Portfolio Manager, Colin J. Warren, said.

"The exposure of IFC in the South Asia last fiscal stood at $506 million, of which over $400 million was invested in India alone,'' he said.

The key sectors in India where investments look attractive, Mr. Warren said, were pharmaceuticals, infrastructure, auto component, information technology (IT) and biotechnology. Out of these, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals were the potential major growth sectors in the country's economy.

"To support these emerging industries, the IFC has invested in APIDC Biology Fund, which will make equity and equity-related investment in early-stages life science business,'' he said. It also made its first investment in Bharat Biotec India Ltd., a company that develops and manufactures vaccines and drugs.