finance engineering

RV financing goes hand in hand with purchasing a new or used recreational vehicle. You will definitely need to take a look at your RV financing options prior to purchasing. RV financing can either help or hurt you in your RV purchase by saving you or costing you maybe hundreds of dollars down the road. In general, when looking at different RV financing terms, you will want to find the best monthly payment. This payment should have you paying the least amount of interest over the life of the RV financing loan. You will have the option to self-finance, dealer finance, online RV financing, or through a bank loan.

Types Of Financing

1. Many people first think of a bank or credit union as the best source of RV financing. If you have been working or have a close relationship to such an institution, you may receive a good deal. It is important to note that this type of RV financing institution may not offer you a wide range of flexibility to the terms, and they typically do not have specific financing for RV buyers.

2. Self-financing is another popular RV financing tool for purchasing an RV. You can use cash, CDs, a retirement policy, life insurance policy, or even a home equity line. Beware of capital gains tax, or early withdrawal penalties for money and the funding base you plan on using for your recreational vehicle purchase. You can also consider your new RV as a second home, if it has sleeping, bath, and kitchen areas. Self-financing can be one of the best, most rewarding ways to finance your motor home purchase.

3. You also have the RV financing option to finance through your RV dealer. Dealers will have access to lending companies and/or loan products that regular corner banking services do not have or are able to offer. Dealers have competitive, flexible terms and rates, which may be more beneficial to you. Typical dealer loans will range from 10, 15, or 20 years, depending on the RV itself. Make sure you read between the lines before signing anything, and make sure you understand all of the terms.

4. A recreational vehicle club can also offer your quality financing for your motor home purchase. These RV clubs have financing lenders and companies they work with on a regular basis. You may find these motor home club financing lenders offer low rates and good terms. If you are thinking about buying a specific manufacturer’s make or model of RV, double check to see if the manufacturer offers financing before making your final spending decision.

5. Online options are a great way for you to cost compare different lending options. There are online tools, such as an online RV calculator, which can assist you in figuring out a monthly payment with interest rate, loan amount, and length of term. Loans can also be secured online.

Most importantly, look at the total cost of the loan throughout its life. There are simple interest loans, balloon payments, pre-payment penalties, and more. Do research on your own to ensure you make the wisest, most education decision when financing your recreational vehicle.

Seller financing is extremely powerful because the buyer and the seller have control over all the terms of the transaction. That means that there are virtually unlimited applications for seller financing. However, all of the options for seller financing fall into just a 2 major categories: financing after the closing and financing before the closing.

The following 4 types of financing occur after the closing:

1. Free and Clear Financing – When a seller owns a property “free and clear” there are no liens or encumbrances on the property. In this situation the seller and the buyer are free to make any terms they want to in order to make a deal successful.

2. Equity Only Financing – This type of financing means that the seller only finances their equity in a property. The buyer is responsible for getting new financing to pay-off all of the seller’s encumbrances and liens. The seller is then free to finance the equity in the property.

3.Wrap Financing - This is also known as “subject to” or “blanket” financing. In this situation the buyer takes the property “subject to” the existing mortgage. The buyer is responsible for making mortgage payments to the seller and the seller is responsible for making mortgage payments to the original lender.

4.Combo Seller Financing - This type of financing is a combination of the financing options #2 & #3. The buyer can “wrap” the underlying mortgage and finance the seller’s equity.

The next 4 types of seller financing occur before the closing:

5.Purchase Option – Any time the buyer gives money to the seller (option payment) for the right to purchase the property at a given price (option price) and within a given timeframe (option period) the buyer has a “purchase option”. This is a form of seller financing because the seller still is responsible for the property and any payments until the buyer purchases the property (exercises their option to purchase) or the option expires.

6.Extended Closing – An extended closing is similar to a purchase option except that the extended closing is done with a Real Estate Purchase Contract (REPC). In the extended close the closing deadline is extended or put into the future significantly further than a typical real estate purchase.

7.Open-ended Closing -The open-ended close is also done with the REPC except the closing deadline is tied to a future event (such as the completion of an addition or remodel). The closing only occurs after the future event has occurred or has been completed.

8.Seller Partnerships - In this situation the seller may sell the property or may retain ownership. In either case, the seller contributes the property (and possibly some capital) as their contribution. The buyer would contribute the work and knowledge (and possibly some capital) to create or enhance the property value. The property would then be refinanced by the buyer or sold to a third party. The seller would get his equity and capital contribution plus an agreed partnership split of the additional profits on the transaction.

The great thing about these 8 types of seller financing is that every option can be used to benefit both the buyer and the seller. Using these seller financing options a seller can actually get a buyer to come in and improve their property, do all the fix-up and repair work at the buyer’s expense, and the buyer is excited about doing the work! I’ll explain how this can be in my next article…

In House Financing is making a comeback in the Canadian market. When I first entered the car business in 1995 there were very few options for people who had credit issues such as bankruptcy, written off accounts, judgements or collections to be able to obtain financing for a reliable vehicle. I was lucky enough to work for a dealership that had an in house leasing company and we were able to sell cars to these people before the sub prime lenders came on the scene.

Over the past several years there have been many companies come into the Canadian automotive financing market to fill the need for most of these customers. They are relatively large national and international financing companies. They have signed the majority of the dealerships across the country to refer business to them. In 2005 there were no fewer than 7 such companies doing business all across the country with many others doing business in certain markets in the country. At the time of writing this article in 2010 there are only 4 remaining and they have tightened up on their lending practices because there is less competition in the marketplace. Of note the 3 sub prime lenders that were doing business all across Canada that are no longer in the marketplace were international lenders with 2 or the 3 based in the United States. When the financial crisis occurred in America we lost them due to their parent companies consolidating their operations into the United States.

It has been this tightening up of lending practices that is beginning to make a need for In House Financing at the dealership level once again. Today there are more and more clients who have credit problems and are in need of special financing solutions as they no longer qualify for financing from the mainstream sub prime lenders.

Many car dealerships are growing tired and frustrated at spending a lot of time and money in advertising to get customers into their dealerships to sell them a car just to have the lenders turn their customer down. It has been this frustration that has led many of them to take another look at an old concept and begin financing these customers themselves. So slowly but surely there are In House Financing, In House Leasing and Buy Here Pay Here programs starting to pop up all across the country to service this new marketplace.

There is very little difference in the various financing programs from a consumer point of view. They all work basically the same way. You have to give them a down payment that the dealers require to offset the risk they are taking in financing these type of high risk clients. Most of the down payments range between $500 – $2000 and are either used as money down on the loan in the case of In House Finance and Buy Here Pay Here programs. The out of pocket money is used as a security deposit and first payment in most In House Leasing programs. The security deposit can be used to buy out the lease at the end of the term without having to come up with any money out of your pocket at that time. No matter what the money you give the dealership is called, by the end of the term it is used to pay down on your vehicle.

The other major difference in these programs is how the vehicle is registered by the Registry of Motor Vehicles in your province. With the In House Financing programs the vehicle is registered in your name on the registration and a chattel mortgage is placed on the vehicle at the Registry of Deeds in your province. The chatel mortgage make it possible to repossess your vehicle if you default on the loan the same way a bank or finance company can. With the In House Leasing programs the vehicle is registered in the name of the leasing company with you being registered as the plate owner of the vehicle. The Buy Here Pay Here programs are usually run by a smaller dealership and they sometimes register a chalet mortgage the same as the In House Financing Programs but often they get the customer to register the vehicle in their name and then return to the dealership with the ownership paper and sign it over to the dealership. This way if the customer defaults on the loan the dealer simply registers the vehicle back into their name and repossess it from the customer. At the end of the day it really doesn’t matter which program you choose to use if you don’t make the payments they will repossess your car but if you make your payments you will not have any problems. Remember all of these dealerships are interested in you keeping your vehicle. They are usually understanding if you are going to be a couple days late with your payment as long as you let them know beforehand and make arrangements to get caught up right away.

These dealers live in the areas they work in and are usually very helpful and are willing to work with you. Most of these dealerships require that you place full coverage insurance on your vehicle but some of the smaller Buy Here Pay Here dealers will allow you to just have basic car insurance because the vehicles they sell are usually fairly inexpensive and full coverage insurance just doesn’t make sense.

The hardest thing about financing a vehicle through these dealers is usually finding them. With so many dealerships advertising Guaranteed Auto Approvals, Bad Credit – No Credit Car Financing and the like but most of them do not have any options for you if you are declined by the national finance companies. You end up spinning your wheels looking for a dealer who will work with you causing you to either give up or get frustrated and buy a cheap car privately with whatever money you can come up with.

Fast car on open roads. It is a perfect picture for any car enthusiast. But you have to go to your work and also drop your kids to school. This is the real picture for most of us. We need to save time when we don’t have any. A typical individual has so many odd jobs to complete that a car can, without doubt, facilitate their accomplishment. Financing your car doesn’t fit your idea of the way of buying your car; then probably you are still stuck with traditional car buying methods. Shed your inhibitions with regard for car financing because it undoubtedly keeps in mind your financial caliber before furnishing you with a car finance loan.

Car financing has taken a new spin with regard to providing investment for buying a car. So, how do you finance a car? If this question leaves you baffled, then you have to go a long way in the process of buying a car. The term ‘financing’ in relation to buying a car connotes either rendering loan to buy the car or lease the car to you. You are probably concentrating on the former meaning. Many people are in favour of talking car finance from dealership for it seems like a convenient option. It seems easy; you select a car, fill out a credit application, and drive away with your car – all in a day’s work. Car finance through dealership will give you car finance on weekends and even at nights when other banks and credit unions are closed.

Seems convenient, isn’t it? But there is a catch. The dealer will be certainly charging you more for your car finance. Usually car buyers are overcharged by 3% on their car finance. A great number of complaints about car financing are related to dealers. 0% APR is not only attractive but lures the buyers to acquire up car finance not meditating if it is feasible for them. There are very few people who can actually get a 0% APR. Thus car finance deals usually fall midway thereby making car finance experience an extremely distressing one. You are buying a new car and probably for the first time, you certainly want it to compliment your enthusiasm. There are few elementary things that need to be kept in mind before taking that crucial primeval step in car buying.

First and foremost in car buying and financing is checking your credit score before you apply for a car loan. Many people are unaware of the fact that they even have a credit score. You can expediently check your credit score online. So, if you have bad credit history then probably you will be paying more interest rate for your car finance. If your credit score drops below 550, then probably apply for new car finance is not such a good idea. First repair you credit score. Repairing credit score requires little effort, helps you repay your debt and retain your credit report. Online car finance companies can get you car finance loan even if your credit score is lower than required. Your car finance loan can get approved in minutes. Online car finance companies have revolutionized car finance procedure. With lowest online car finance rates, no application fees, or down payments car finance companies provide a formidable competition to car dealers. Car finance companies have set a standard for providing car finance that is worth opting for.

70% of cars are obtained by some kind of financing. You can even finance a used car. The process is as effortless and undemanding as financing a new car. The essence to finding the right car finance is doing to research about your kind of car. Knowledge is power; you must be awake to this age old logic. When so much information frequently exists, then why not make use of it. Find out how much your car costs by comparing rates with local dealers. Very decisive, is cognizing how much, you can afford. Calculate, you monthly income and deduct your usual monthly expenditure to find out how much you can afford on a monthly basis. Compute carefully, otherwise you will find difficulty in repaying your car finance loan. And you definitely don’t want to fool around with your repayment plan because a lot is at stake. You can seek free advice for your own car finance online through credit unions and loan institutions.

You are a car enthusiast, a car consumer, a just a person who needs a car you ought to drive the best car. And why not drive the best car, when you have access to the best car finance plans. Car financing is a transparent route that leads you to become a car owner. Car finance loans are usually short term loans ranging from 36 to 72 months. Shorter loan term imply, lower interest rates and will prove to be cheaper. You have been working hard to select the car you want; there is a fairly good chance that you would not have to work so hard for car finance. So, sit back relax and enjoy the ride.

Stocks and the stock market is a fast-paced world to keep up with. In order to stay ahead of the game, you’ve got to be organized, aware of what’s going on, and have easy access to the latest financial news. The Internet has quickly become the number on means of getting and sharing information immediately. This is crucial for keeping up with finance. Furthermore, websites like Google.com have additional tools and resources to stay updated and informed about the financial market. Google Finance is a branch from Google.com that focuses solely on the financial information and news that is so vital to you.

To access Google Finance, click “more” at the top of the page on Google’s homepage, then click Finance. On the home page of Google Finance is five tools that will help you stay updated and organized. Here’s a brief description of how to use each of these tools:

*Markets*

This is a great way to get a quick overview of the current position of global markets. The top section, “Market Summary” shows articles from leading stock market analysts and is updated quite frequently. You will see a link to the original article, a summary, who provided the information, when it was posted (in minutes), and include a picture of any grafts or images were included in the article. This is a great way to see what the latest news is, and decide from there if you want to read the full story.

The next section in the “Markets” tool is the top news stories relating to the market. Under that is the “Sector Summary” showing the increase or decrease percentages for stock in certain sectors, like Basic Materials, Conglomerates, and Energy. The last section in “Markets” is a basis analysis of market trends, including for categories:

* Popular-showing the trends for the most popular, most researched corporations and businesses.
* Price-showing the top 5 stocks that are currently gaining and losing percentages.
* Mkt Cap-showing the top 5 gainers and losers with the highest market cap.
* Vol-showing the top 10 stocks with the highest volume.

*News*

Basically, this is a listing of all the news stories about the market. The news is listed in the order that they were posted with links to the original article, a summary, and the company that provided the information. To the right is a subsection of “Top Stories”, to see the most popular news stories.

*Portfolios*

You must have an account with Google to use this section. This is where you can organize your current stock investments. You can add ticker symbols of the stocks and mutual funds you are purchasing or watching, add transaction data, etc. You will then be able to track your progress and see recent activity in your stocks.

When you add a stock to your portfolio, either to watch or buy shares, you will then see a basic preview of the stocks, and have the option to see the overview, fundamentals, performance, and transactions (shown is separate tabs) for each stock.

*Stock Screener*

This tool will help you get information on current stock. You can search for stocks based on their market cap, P/E ratio, Dividend yield, and 52w price change, or a combination of all or some of these criteria. You will then be shown a list of matching stocks in alphabetical order below. Each stock is a link to a page summarizing this stock’s detailed information, like shares and recent activity, etc. From here you can click to watch the stock, which automatically adds it to your portfolio. Under the basic summary is a listing of related companies that you might also be interested in, including their current status.

*Google Domestic Trends*

This tool will show you trends of searches performed on Google by US users, compared to the actual sales in that area. Since the majority of Internet users use search engines to gain information, and Google is the number one (by far) search engine used, this could be a valuable resource. You can compare the rise and fall of searches performed on Google to actual purchases to see a different prospective on the popularity of certain markets. There are several market sector categories to choose from, like computers and electronics, durable goods, and real estate.

For all your finance and stock market needs, check out Google Finance!

Nowadays the internet has made it so easy to finance or refinance cars, and just about anything else, come to think of it. The Web offers choices, opportunities, and alternatives as never before in history. Easy application and even approval can benefit the bad credit consumer without ever leaving the comfort of home or office. No more will you have to deal with unsavory face-to-face encounters, be surprised by your bad credit scores, or wade through lengthy approval processes.

Online Applications and Approvals

By turning to the internet, you can easily fill out applications and get approval, often within hours, or even minutes. Thanks to car financing websites, folks who would never have been approved for a car loan can now get the financing they so desperately need. Even with a poor credit score, a modest income and a stable job could put you in the drivers seat quickly. Yes, even if you have declared a bankruptcy or have other blemishes on your credit reports.

Credit Scores and Credit Costs

Shopping around is always a good idea when seeking car financing, especially if you have a poor credit history. The internet makes the shopping easy. You should try to get at least five bids before you accept any. Shopping online, nine times out of ten, you are going to get a better deal than any bank, credit union, or other traditional lender can offer. You will most certainly do better than the loan officer at a new or used car dealer. Understand though, because of a poor credit history, you are going to be paying higher interest rates for auto financing than those with good credit. But, with the internet, you are not going to have much trouble finding and getting approved for auto financing. Just be wise and use all resources possible get the best possible interest rates and terms you can live with.

Search Engines

Your preferred search engine (Google for instance), is an outstanding place to begin. You can specifically search the kind of auto loan financing you desire, usually within minutes. Of course, always be cautious about divulging personal or financial interest online. Some unscrupulous hackers have set up amazingly real loan sites that are nothing more than information theft sites to abet identity theft. Just be careful, but also understand that most lenders offer secure websites that encrypt all personal info. If you are unsure about a lender, check the Better Business Bureau or state agencies to weed out the scofflaws.

Breathe a Sigh of Relief

Some other benefits of online loan shopping make the undertaking more than worthwhile. No longer will you be faced with the uneasiness or embarrassment of being turned down at a dealership. Internet shopping, application, and approvals are the easiest they have ever been. If you have a reliable lender, you can be assured all your personal and financial information is protected, unlike it would be in the hands of a salesman at a dealership. A website you may want to check out is Open Road Lending, there you will find answers to any questions unanswered here; it even gives you tips on negotiating price with a dealership salesperson.

Matlab is a fourth generation programming language, which is developed by The MathWorks. It provides a numerical computing environment. Matlab performs a variety of mathematical functions like creation of user interfaces, plotting of data and functions, implementing the data etc. It is used by millions of people worldwide and almost every industry is relying on its use to perform mathematical problems.

Matlab is a platform where the user can easily perform all his mathematical exercises. Matlab was developed in 1970′s by Cleve Moler, who was a professor in University of New Mexico. Over the years, Matlab has undergone many changes and modifications in order to improve it further.

Matlab is nowadays more preferred in finance niche as it is highly accurate and reliable. In order to use Matlab or the Matrix Laboratory, you have to first learn the language of Matlab or the M-Code. Matlab is primarily used with multi-dimensional arrays, 2D Matrices and 1D vector. It can also call libraries, which are written in ActiveX or in Java. Matlab enables the users to solve the mathematical languages more easily and quickly than as compared to other programming languages like C or Fortran and thus it is more apt for use in finance, in which both speed and reliability is required.

Initially, Matlab was only restricted to a few design control engineers, however, because of its high utility it soon spread to the other domains in the industry. Today, Matlab is not only used in industry but it has also found use in colleges, universities, military, stock exchange etc.

Matlab has proved to be a boon for finance. No one can deny the importance of Matlab in the field of finance. Human beings are not capable of solving exhaustive mathematical problems that too, with a high degree of precision.

You are kindly invited to visit my collection of matlab file exchange usage, especially about derivative pricing and quantitative trading.

In this article following two major points are discussed to understand the whole scenario.

(1) Trend and Initiative of the Budgetary Support and Institutional Borrowings -

The system of managing and financing infrastructural facilities has been changing significantly since the mid-eighties. The Eighth Plan (1992-97) envisaged cost recovery to be built into the financing system. This has further been reinforced during the Ninth Plan period (1997-2002) with a substantial reduction in budgetary allocations for infrastructure development. A strong case has been made for making the public agencies accountable and financially viable. Most of the infrastructure projects are to be undertaken through institutional finance rather than budgetary support. The state level organisations responsible for providing infrastructural services, metropolitan and other urban development agencies are expected to make capital investments on their own, besides covering the operational costs for their infrastructural services. The costs of borrowing have gone up significantly for all these agencies over the years. This has come in their way of their taking up schemes that are socially desirable schemes but are financially less or non-remunerative. Projects for the provision of water, sewerage and sanitation facilities etc., which generally have a long gestation period and require a substantial component of subsidy, have, thus, received a low priority in this changed policy perspective.

Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO), set up in the sixties by the Government of India to support urban development schemes, had tried to give an impetus to infrastructural projects by opening a special window in the late eighties. Availability of loans from this window, generally at less than the market rate, was expected to make state and city level agencies, including the municipalities, borrow from Housing and Urban Development Corporation. This was more so for projects in cities and towns with less than a million populations since their capacity to draw upon internal resources was limited.

Housing and Urban Development Corporation finances even now up to 70 per cent of the costs in case of public utility projects and social infrastructure. For economic and commercial infrastructure, the share ranges from 50 per cent for the private agencies to 80 per cent for public agencies. The loan is to be repaid in quarterly installments within a period of 10 to 15 years, except for the private agencies for whom the repayment period is shorter. The interest rates for the borrowings from Housing and Urban Development Corporation vary from 15 per cent for utility infrastructure of the public agencies to 19.5 per cent for commercial infrastructure of the private sector. The range is much less than what used to be at the time of opening the infrastructure window by Housing and Urban Development Corporation. This increase in the average rate of interest and reduction in the range is because its average cost of borrowing has gone up from about 7 per cent to 14 per cent during the last two and a half decade.

Importantly, Housing and Urban Development Corporation loans were available for upgrading and improving the basic services in slums at a rate lower than the normal schemes in the early nineties. These were much cheaper than under similar schemes of the World Bank. However, such loans are no longer available. Also, earlier the Corporation was charging differential interest rates from local bodies in towns and cities depending upon their population size. For urban centres with less than half a million population, the rate was 14.5 per cent; for cities with population between half to one million, it was 17 per cent; and a huge number of cities, it was 18 per cent. No special concessional rate was, however, charged for the towns with less than a hundred or fifty thousand population that are in dire need of infrastructural improvement, as discussed above.

It is unfortunate, however, that even this small bias in favour of smaller cities has now been given up. Further, Housing and Urban Development Corporation was financing up to 90 per cent of the project cost in case of infrastructural schemes for ‘economically weaker sections’ which, too, has been discontinued in recent years.

Housing and Urban Development Corporation was and continues to be the premier financial institution for disbursing loans under the Integrated Low Cost Sanitation Scheme of the government. The loans as well as the subsidy components for different beneficiary categories under the scheme are released through the Corporation. The amount of funds available through this channel has gone down drastically in the nineties.

Given the stoppage of equity support from the government, increased cost of resource mobilisation, and pressure from international agencies to make infrastructural financing commercially viable, Housing and Urban Development Corporation has responded by increasing the average rate of interest and bringing down the amounts advanced to the social sectors. Most significantly, there has been a reduction in the interest rate differentiation, designed for achieving social equity.

An analysis of infrastructural finances disbursed through Housing and Urban Development Corporation shows that the development authorities and municipal corporations that exist only in larger urban centres operate have received more than half of the total amount. The agencies like Water Supply and Sewerage Boards and Housing Boards, that have the entire state within their jurisdiction, on the other hand, have received altogether less than one third of the total loans. Municipalities with less than a hundred thousand population or local agencies with weak economic base often find it difficult to approach Housing and Urban Development Corporation for loans. This is so even under the central government schemes like the Integrated Development of Small and Medium Towns, routed through Housing and Urban Development Corporation, that carry a subsidy component. These towns are generally not in a position to obtain state government’s guarantee due to their uncertain financial position. The central government and the Reserve Bank of India have proposed restrictions on many of the states for giving guarantees to local bodies and para-statal agencies, in an attempt to ensure fiscal discipline.

Also, the states are being persuaded to register a fixed percentage of the amount guaranteed by them as a liability in their accounting system. More importantly, in most of the states, only the para-statal agencies and municipal corporations have been given state guarantee with the total exclusion of smaller municipal bodies. Understandably, getting bank guarantee is even more difficult, specially, for the urban centres in less developed states and all small and medium towns.

The Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (ILFS), established in 1989, are coming up as an important financial institution in recent years. It is a private sector financial intermediary wherein the Government of India owns a small equity share. Its activities have more or less remained confined to development of industrial-townships, roads and highways where risks are comparatively less. It basically undertakes project feasibility studies and provides a variety of financial as well as engineering services. Its role, therefore, is that of a merchant banker rather than of a mere loan provider so far as infrastructure financing is considered and its share in the total infrastructural finance in the country remains limited.

Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services has helped local bodies, para-statal agencies and private organisations in preparing feasibility reports of commercially viable projects, detailing out the pricing and cost recovery mechanisms and establishing joint venture companies called Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV).

Further, it has become equity holders in these companies along with other public and private agencies, including the operator of the BOT project. The role of Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services may, thus, be seen as a promoter of a new perspective of development and a participatory arrangement for project financing. It is trying to acquire the dominant position for the purpose of influencing the composition of infrastructural projects and the system of their financing in the country.

Mention must be made here of the Financial Institutions Reform and Expansion (FIRE) Programme, launched under the auspices of the USAID. Its basic objective is to enhance resource availability for commercially viable infrastructure projects through the development of domestic debt market. Fifty per cent of the project cost is financed from the funds raised in US capital market under Housing Guaranty fund. This has been made available for a long period of thirty years at an interest rate of 6 percent, thanks to the guarantee from the US-Congress.

The risk involved in the exchange rate fluctuation due to the long period of capital borrowing is being mitigated by a swapping arrangement through the Grigsby Bradford and Company and Government Finance Officers’ Association for which they would charge an interest rate of 6 to 7 percent. The interest rate for the funds from US market, thus, does not work out as much cheaper than that raised internally.

The funds under the programme are being channelled through Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services and Housing and Urban Development Corporation who are expected to raise a matching contribution for the project from the domestic debt market. A long list of agenda for policy reform pertaining to urban governance, land management, pricing of services etc. have been proposed for the two participating institutions. For providing loans under the programme, the two agencies are supposed to examine the financial viability or bankability of the projects. This, it is hoped, would ensure financial discipline on the part of the borrowing agencies like private and public companies, municipal bodies, para-statal agencies etc. as also the state governments that have to stand guarantee to the projects. The major question, here, however is whether funds from these agencies would be available for social sectors schemes that have a long gestation period and low commercial viability.

Institutional funds are available also under Employees State Insurance Scheme and Employer’s Provident Fund. These have a longer maturity period and are, thus, more suited for infrastructure financing. There are, however, regulations requiring the investment to be channeled in government securities and other debt instruments in a ‘socially desirable’ manner. Government, however, is seriously considering proposals to relax these stipulations so that the funds can be made available for earning higher returns, as per the principle of commercial profitability.

There are several international actors that are active in the infrastructure sector like the Governments of United Kingdom (through Department for International Development), Australia and Netherlands. These have taken up projects pertaining to provision of infrastructure and basic amenities under their bilateral co-operation programmes. Their financial support, although very small in comparison with that coming from other agencies discussed below, has generally gone into projects that are unlikely to be picked up by private sector and may have problems of cost recovery. World Bank, Asian Development Bank, OECF (Japan), on the other hand, are the agencies that have financed infrastructure projects that are commercially viable and have the potential of being replicated on a large scale. The share of these agencies in the total funds into infrastructure sector is substantial. The problem, here, however, is that the funds have generally been made available when the borrowing agencies are able to involve private entrepreneurs in the project or mobilise certain stipulated amount from the capital market. This has proved to be a major bottleneck in the launching of a large number of projects. Several social sector projects have failed at different stages of formulation or implementation due to their long payback period and uncertain profit potential. These projects also face serious difficulties in meeting the conditions laid down by the international agencies.

(2) Trend and Initiative of the Borrowings by Government and Public Undertakings from Capital Market -

A strong plea has been made for mobilising resources from the capital market for infrastructural investment. Unfortunately, there are not many projects in the country that have been perceived as commercially viable, for which funds can easily be lifted from the market.

The weak financial position and revenue sources of the state undertakings in this sector make this even more difficult. As a consequence, innovative credit instruments have been designed to enable the local bodies tap the capital market.

Bonds, for example, are being issued through institutional arrangements in such a manner that the borrowing agency is required to pledge or escrow certain buoyant sources of revenue for debt servicing. This is a mechanism by which the debt repayment obligations are given utmost priority and kept independent of the overall financial position of the borrowing agency. It ensures that a trustee would monitor the debt servicing and that the borrowing agency would not have access to the pledged resources until the loan is repaid.

The most important development in the context of investment in infrastructure and amenities is the emergence of credit rating institutions in the country. With the financial markets becoming global and competitive and the borrowers’ base increasingly diversified, investors and regulators prefer to rely on the opinion of these institutions for their decisions. The rating of the debt instruments of the corporate bodies, financial agencies and banks are currently being done by the institutions like Information and Credit Rating Agency of India (ICRA), Credit Analysis and Research (CARE) and Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited (CRISIL) etc. The rating of the urban local bodies has, however, been done so far by only Information and Credit Rating Agency of India, that too only since 1995-96.

Given the controls of the state government on the borrowing agencies, it is not easy for any institution to assess the ‘unctioning and managerial capabilities’ of these agencies in any meaningful manner so as to give a precise rating. Furthermore, the ‘present financial position’ of an agency in no way reflects its strength or managerial efficiency. There could be several reasons for the revenue income, expenditure and budgetary surplus to be high other than its administrative efficiency. Large sums being received as grants or as remuneration for providing certain services could explain that. The surplus in the current or capital account cannot be a basis for cross-sectional or temporal comparison since the user charges permitted by the state governments may vary.

More important than obtaining the relevant information, there is the problem of choosing a development perspective. The rating institutions would have difficulties in deciding whether to go by measures of financial performance like total revenue including grants or build appropriate indicators to reflect managerial efficiency. One can possibly justify the former on the ground that for debt servicing, what one needs is high income, irrespective of its source or managerial efficiency. This would, however, imply taking a very short-term view of the situation. Instead, if the rating agency considers level of managerial efficiency, structure of governance or economic strength in long-term context, it would be able to support the projects that may have debt repayment problems in the short run but would succeed in the long run.

The indicators that it may then consider would pertain to the provisions in state legislation regarding decentralisation, stability of the government in the city and the state, per capita income of the population, level of industrial and commercial activity etc. All these have a direct bearing on the prospect of increasing user charges in the long run. The body, for example, would be able to generate higher revenues through periodic revision of user-charges, if per capita income levels of its residents are high.

The rating agencies have, indeed, taken a medium or long-term view, as may be noted from the Rating Reports of various public undertakings in the recent past. These have generally based their rating on a host of quantitative and qualitative factors, including those pertaining to the policy perspective at the state or local level and not simply a few measurable indicators.

The only problem is that it has neither detailed out all these factors nor specified the procedures by which the qualitative dimensions have been brought within the credit rating framework, without much ambiguity.

In recent time India has made significant progress in mobilizing private investment for infrastructure. Infrastructure finance nearly doubled in the last decade and is expected to grow further under the government’s 12th Plan (2012-17), which calls for investments in the sector of about US$ 1 trillion, with a contribution from the private sector of at least half.

Still, it is not enough to draw final conclusion due to following reasons:

(1) Meeting the ambitious targets fully, will be challenging in long run,
(2) Major changes are needed in the way banks appraise and finance projects,
(3) The government has taken a number of recent initiatives to expand private investment in infrastructure, but their impact has not yet been felt.

But to consider last 20 years, the progress is steady and satisfactory enough.