Based on its experience of about three years of operation, IIFC has developed a set of operational policies and procedures. These are as follows:
(a) IIFC would respond to requests from government ministries and agencies for assistance. Where assistance can be given, IIFC would enter into an agreement with the concerned ministry or its agency. This would be in the form of a DSA for investment projects and TSA for non-investment projects;
(b) IIFC would work on a success fee basis and seek to recover costs at different stages of project development, primarily from transaction projects;
(c) As IIFC's work would form the basis for negotiations with a private party, IIFC, its consultants and funding agencies would maintain full commercial confidentiality of the concerned project;
(d) IIFC's impact could be greatest if it is involved in the commercialization stages of project development (i.e., from Stage II onwards), with some input into Stage I. IIFC's policy is thus to enter after the completion of feasibility studies. A number of government departments and agencies supported by bilateral and multilateral institutions carry out such studies at present, and IIFC's niche will be in the later stages of project development;
(e) IIFC would focus on stranded or underutilized assets of the Government. Value addition to such infrastructure assets is likely to produce considerable benefits to the economy;
(f) Restructuring and commercialization of State-owned enterprises is also an area to be pursued by IIFC. It would assist these enterprises in securing their long-term viability through private sector investment, management and operation.
Generally, the private sector infrastructure projects have low visibility in the national planning process. In order to make them prominent in the national plans, IIFC has proposed to segregate the public sector and private sector infrastructure projects in the next five year plan. It has also proposed through the "Private Sector First Policy" that the Government's annual development programme be formulated with two separate components, the public sector ADP and the private sector ADP.