"WE ENVISAGE A 10-FOLD INCREASE IN OUR RENEWABLE ENERGY PORTFOLIO TO Rs 3 LAKH CR"

Ending FY24 with record loan sanction and disbursals, REC CMD VIVEK KUMAR DEWANGAN caught up with Arjun Yadav of BW Businessworld to delineate the financing firm’s strides in diversifying its loan book, the razor sharp focus on asset quality, the plan for the solar rooftop scheme and more. Edited Excerpts:

- Arjun Yadav

How would you describe REC’s financial performance in FY24?

FY24 was a fabulous year for REC. The total return to shareholders has been tremendous. We started the financial year with a share price of about Rs 110. We ended it above Rs 450 per share, almost more than 350 per cent return to the shareholders. We achieved the highest-ever loan sanctions worth Rs 3,56,000 crore compared to Rs 2,68,000 crore. The disbursement too was phenomenally high to the tune of Rs 1,61,000 crore, compared to last year’s Rs 97,000 crore. With this growth in our loan book, we are committed to the fact that our assets under management will double in the next five to six years.

By 2030, we intend to take our loan book to about Rs 10 lakh crore, and 30 per cent will come from the renewable energy portfolio. We envisage a 10-fold increase in our renewable energy portfolio to about Rs 3 lakh crore from the current Rs 35,000 crore. Similarly, we are also seeing that there will be a significant increase in our non-power infrastructure loan book which is likely to contribute around Rs. 1.5 – 2 lakh crore by the year 2030.

Talk us through the portfolio division as of now for the loan book. How has the progress been on the infrastructure sector?

We were a bit cautious about the non-power infrastructure logistics sector. Initially, we sanctioned only those projects that were supported by state government guarantees. We are gaining confidence and have brought sector experts specialising in the infrastructure and logistics sector.