Sagarmala Finance Corporation Limited the first maritime focused non banking financial company in India is seeking a substantial equity infusion from the government to expand its lending capacity and support the nation’s ports shipbuilding and coastal projects. The company has requested a minimum of two thousand crore rupees in fresh equity from the central government to strengthen its capital base and comply with regulatory norms that limit lending to individual borrowers and corporate groups. The infusion is expected to arrive by the next financial year and will enable Sagarmala Finance to undertake larger projects and increase its overall operations.
Sagarmala Finance was established by transforming the Sagarmala Development Corporation into a registered non banking financial company with the goal of promoting maritime finance as part of India’s wider strategy to develop ports shipyards and coastal infrastructure. The company has already begun lending with disbursements totaling over four thousand crore rupees and aims to double its loan portfolio to eight thousand crore rupees this fiscal year. Its focus includes supporting greenfield port projects dredging activities and shipyard financing.
The company’s relatively limited net worth has previously constrained its ability to fund larger projects due to exposure norms set by the Reserve Bank of India. With only twelve hundred crore rupees in capital it cannot lend more than twenty five percent of its capital to a single borrower or more than forty percent to a corporate group without additional equity support. By securing the anticipated two thousand crore rupee government equity infusion Sagarmala Finance expects to overcome these limitations and take on more ambitious maritime initiatives.
In addition to lending operations Sagarmala Finance serves as the nodal agency for the Maritime Development Fund with a corpus of twenty five thousand crore rupees including the Maritime Investment Fund and the Interest Incentivisation Fund.
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