It has a mandate from the Punjab Infrastructure Board to lend advisory services for infrastructure projects, a mandate from the Kerala government to advice it on creating a road network and from the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to help make the eight-laning of the Delhi-Gurgaon highway a bankable project. SBI Capital Markets has already arranged funds for a water project in Tamil Nadu and made the Kanpur Electricity Services ready for privatisation.

It helped arrange funds for the Samal Patti power project, which has just achieved financial closure. ``We will walk through the infrastructure projects from conceptualisation to financial closure,'' said SBI Capital Markets senior vice-president (project advisory and structured finance) K B Gopalakrishnan.

The project advisory and structured finance division of SBI Capital Markets bagged Rs 13 crore of business from infrastructure projects last year, contributing less than 10 per cent of the merchant banker's total earnings of Rs 140 crore. This year the division is jostling with rivals like ICICI Securities and overseas investment bankers, for a bigger chunk of the support services market.

SBI Capital Markets targets Rs 20 crore of revenue from support services, like infrastructure project appraisals, syndication of funds and advisory services during the current fiscal. It has already advised the Uttar Pradesh State Electricity Board (UPSEB) on privatising the Kanpur Electricity Services, which is now ready for bidding.

SBI Capital Markets appraised the utility, helped it shed flab and mould into a corporation, good enough to be auctioned. It has some advisory role in the Thirupur water project in Tamil Nadu, the first such commercial venture to go on stream. SBI Capital Markets will also arrange funds for the Rs 1300-crore water purification and distribution venture. The project is a joint venture of the New Thirupur Area Development Authority, the Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS), small scale industries and the Tamil Nadu government.

In Kerala, SBI Capital Markets has been appointed by the state government to study the development of roads and bridges. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) wants the merchant banker to see the Rs 400 crore project for eight-laning the Delhi-Gurgaon thoroughfare through financial closure.

SBI Capital Markets will study the tariff structure of the project, decide how much revenue could be garnered from tolls and advice the NHAI on structuring its investment in the project. ``We will have to structure it into a bankable project,'' Gopalakrishnan said.