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New tools for investors seeking to access the Indian infrastructure market were unveiled today by global index provider FTSE Group (“FTSE”), and Indian infrastructure specialist, Infrastructure Development Finance Company Limited (IDFC). The FTSE IDFC India Infrastructure Index Series will represent the performance of Indian companies listed on the National or Bombay Stock Exchanges in India, generating the majority of their revenue from infrastructure, and is designed to underpin the creation of index tracking funds and structured products.
The two organisations are natural partners to develop a new infrastructure index, bringing together FTSE’s award-winning and globally recognised index design and calculation expertise, and IDFC’s unique and extensive expertise in the field of Indian infrastructure.
The FTSE IDFC India Infrastructure Index Series was launched today by the Hon’ble Union Finance Minister, Mr. P. Chidambaram, at an event held at Hotel Taj Mansingh, New Delhi.
Mr. Donald Keith, Deputy Chief Executive, FTSE Group commented, “FTSE enjoys a reputation for innovation in indexing, and working with IDFC to create an index for this dynamic asset class is a great opportunity to showcase those skills. We’re delighted to be selected as index partner and to pioneer new indices in the infrastructure market.”
Dr. Rajiv Lall, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of IDFC, stated, “The Indian infrastructure space is on a long term secular growth path and the FTSE IDFC India Infrastructure Index Series is a reflection of IDFC’s continuous effort to be creative and innovative in developing products relating to Indian Infrastructure. The index series will be extremely useful to Indian and international investors in getting exposure to Indian infrastructure through funds and structured products. We are delighted to partner FTSE, which is a world leader in index creation and management, in the creation of the first Indian Infrastructure Index”.
FTSE IDFC India Infrastructure Index Series contains one tradable and one benchmark index and is calculated in real time and end of day basis. It contains stocks listed on the National or Bombay Stock Exchanges, focussed on infrastructure sectors including Transportation, Energy, Communication and Construction. More information on Ground Rules, constituents and performance of the new indices is available at www.ftse.com/india.
About FTSE Group
FTSE Group is a world-leader in the creation and management of indices. With offices in London, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Madrid, Paris, New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo, FTSE Group services clients in 77 countries worldwide. It calculates and manages the FTSE Global Equity Index series, which includes world-recognised indices ranging from the FTSE All-World Index, the FTSE4Good series and the FTSEurofirst Index series, as well as domestic indices such as the prestigious FTSE 100. The company has collaborative arrangements with the Athens, AMEX, Cyprus, Euronext, Johannesburg London, Madrid, NASDAQ and Taiwan exchanges, as well as Nomura Securities, Hang Seng and Xinhua Finance of China. FTSE recently signed an agreement with Dow Jones Indexes to develop a single sector classification system for global investors.
FTSE indices are used extensively by investors worldwide for investment analysis, performance measurement, asset allocation, portfolio hedging and for creating a wide range of index tracking funds. Independent committees of senior fund managers, derivatives experts, actuaries and other experienced practitioners review all changes to the indices to ensure that they are made objectively and without bias. Real-time FTSE indices are calculated on systems managed by Reuters. Prices and FX rates used are supplied by Reuters.
About IDFC
IDFC was established in 1997 as a private sector enterprise by a consortium of public and private investors. Its expertise in the infrastructure sector and strong relationships with government and infrastructure sponsors provides it with a platform for facilitating private investment and public private partnerships in infrastructure projects in sectors where market structures, government policy and regulation are evolving.
The mission is to be the financier and advisor of choice for infrastructure projects in India. IDFC’s business strategy is to be “India’s Specialist Infrastructure Institution” with an infrastructure-focused project finance, investment banking and asset management franchise. The focus is to be a financier across the entire infrastructure value chain and create a strong platform that combines businesses that offer high return on equity with more traditional lending – related businesses.
In the last five years, IDFC’s loan book has grown by about 50% per annum and profit after tax has grown by 30% per annum. Today IDFC is already the single largest debt & equity financier of privately sponsored infrastructure in the country. It has a balance sheet of USD 4.3 billion, USD 630 million of third party equity capital under management for deployment only in the Indian infrastructure space and a market capitalisation of $3.5 billion.
