India’s largest port in the making to raise $3.5 billion debt

The firm building what will become the largest port in India plans to raise as much as 300 billion rupees ($3.5 billion) of debt, giving lenders an opportunity to invest in one of the cornerstones of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s infrastructure overhaul.

Owners of the Vadhvan Port Project Ltd., located a few hours north of Mumbai, are looking to raise debt with tenors in the range of 15 to 20 years. They’re considering onshore and offshore markets to raise the funds, according to a top official.

“We have started the process of raising debt which will happen in two phases,” said Unmesh Sharad Wagh, chairman at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority, or JNPA, which holds a 74 per cent stake. The Maharashtra Maritime Board owns the remaining 26 per cent.

The $9 billion port project is a major undertaking for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who laid the port’s foundation stone last year. Upon completion, which is expected toward the end of the decade, Vadhvan will have the capacity to handle some 23 million container units, making it one of the 10 largest ports in the world, according to its backers.

IDBI Capital was appointed as advisor to help lineup long term lenders for the first round of funding, with a target of at least 220 billion rupees, Wagh said. The funds will be disbursed over the next five years, and the request for proposals from lenders will be floated during the October to December quarter.

JNPA and MMB will jointly infuse about 130 billion rupees worth of equity into the project, said Wagh, who is also chairman and managing director of Vadhvan Port Project. The firm is in talks with multilateral agencies, and is working on reclaiming 1,200 hectares of land, he added.

Bolstering the country’s maritime infrastructure is a priority for Modi’s administration.

Through the country’s annual budget in February, the government proposed a Maritime Development Fund to support the sector through financial assistance via equity or debt securities.

Some of the largest container ships have been forced to skip India because none of its existing ports are deep enough to receive them. Vadhvan’s natural depth of 20 meters would allow some of the largest ships to dock. It would also serve as a starting point for the so-called India-Middle East-Europe Corridor, a planned economic link aimed at developing new trade routes between the regions.