National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) member Manoj Kumar on Thursday said a huge market is available for surety bonds in the country and now, the onus is on the insurance fraternity to come out with products quickly.
Addressing an event organised by industry body Assocham, Kumar further said the NHAI is working to expand the construction market because "as a country, we had a certain level of construction capability in a strategic manner by having contracts of various sizes".
"A huge market is available for surety bonds in-country and now the onus is on the insurance fraternity to come out with products quickly. We have already initiated at authority level discussions with the insurance agencies and companies," he said.
The member (project) noted that it is important for the industry to come out with the right kind of insurance products.
He pointed out that three years ago, the country had 6-7 players who were doing public-private partnership (PPP) and hybrid annuity model (HAM) projects.
"Today, in the current financial year, we have 25 players. We are now awarding nearly 50 per cent contracts to new players, which in turn has resulted in competitive bids and faster constructions," Kumar said.
He, however, added that it poses another challenge as new players often find it difficult to get bank guarantees and that's where the roles of surety bonds come in.
Surety bonds are different from corporate bonds and financial guarantees.
While surety bonds refer to the performance or delivery obligation to complete the insured project, the corporate bonds refer to financial obligation to repay the debts or loans.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU