New Delhi, Sep 29 (IANS): Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited (SSTL), which operates its telecom services under the MTS brand in India, Thursday said it has raised a loan of about $200 million from two banks to further scale up its telecom operations in the country.

"As part of the process, $100 million was raised from ICICI bank and remaining $100 million was raised from Barclays Bank. This loan has been proportionally secured by Russia's leading bank, Gazprombank through a standby letter of credit and bank guarantee," the company said in a statement.

The entire amount of $200 million has now been received by SSTL in a single tranche. The 3-year loan is payable in 2014.

"Given the testing times being faced for financing of the telecom industry in India, raising of $200 million loan by SSTL is a significant achievement. The money raised is a reaffirmation of the confidence reposed by leading banks in our business strategy," said Sergey Savchenko, chief financial officer, SSTL.

"We plan to utilize the raised money to further scale up our telecom operations in the country," he added.