The infrastructure equipment market is expected to touch $20 billion

Devendra Vyas, CEO, Srei Equipment Finance Pvt Ltd Srei Equipment Finance Pvt Ltd has many first to its credit. It is amongst the first Indian NBFCs to access the international market for funds, to be listed on the London Stock Exchange and to lay the ground for passive telecom infrastructure in India. In over 23 years of operations, the company has empowered more than 30,000 entrepreneurs through its bouquet of services in the infrastructure sector. Devendra Vyas, CEO, expounds on the company's benefits in conversation with SHRIYAL SETHUMADHAVAN. How has bC India 2013 been? The expo has been better than our expectations. I am happy to see smaller customers showing interest in buying. I also see a good turnaround of retail customers coming forward and exploring the purchase of smaller machines. This enthusiasm is a positive sign for our industry. India is facing an issue of project delays. How does this impact your decision making in terms of financing? Delay in the process will definitely impact everything. However, with the Cabinet Committee on Investment being formed, hopefully we should be able to see good - though it will take time. But once the interest rates come down and projects are granted clearances, things will move faster. More than Rs 20,000 crore is stuck with the contractor, which in turn belongs to banks and NBFCs. The infrastructure equipment market is expected to touch $20 billion from $4 billion that we have today. I am hopeful that the market will achieve this set target. How does NBFCs have an advantage over banks? Our ability to acquire the customer, arrange deployment of the machine, understand their business and provide customised solutions gives us an edge over the banks. Also, NBFCs are more solution and relationship oriented.