The state-owned IIFCL has approved loans of Rs 8,244 billion for about 20 projects to help increase port capacity by 836 million tonnes per year (MTPA), equivalent to a quarter of India’s total cargo volume, a senior company official said.

The total port capacity of India is about 2,600 MTPA. Of these, the cargo handling capacity of 12 major ports was 1,598 MTPA in March 2022.

India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) has extended its financial support to many strategic port projects including Paradip Port, Essar Vizag Port, Tuticorin, Krishnapatnam, Karaikal.

“The latest is the Port of Ramayapatnam, which reinforces our belief in this very important sector and its potential to improve connectivity, reduce logistics costs and boost the economy,” IIFCL Managing Director PR Jaishankar told PTI.

With investments in three emerging ports including Ramyapatnam and Bhavanapadu, he said capacity would reach 1,000 MTPA when those ports become operational in a few years.

Ramayapatnam Port in Andhra Pradesh is expected to start operations in December next year with four berths and a capacity of 34 MTPA.

“IIFCL has provided Rs. 8,244 crore in financial support to the port sector to date. Of this, Rs.787 crore was sanctioned for various terminals in 5 major ports and Rs.7,465 crore for 15 smaller port projects.

Most of the projects are operational and there are currently three non-large ports under construction,” he said.

IIFCL has been involved in the development of 5 out of 12 major ports and 15 non-major ports in India.

Continuing its vision to fund world-class infrastructure in India, IIFCL will provide Rs 1,000 crore financial support to another non-major greenfield port in Andhra Pradesh with a proposed capacity of 30 MTPA.

“The current decade could well be a golden decade for the sector, with positive government policy interventions, private sector capital injections and holistic and inclusive development with efficiency, job creation and innovation,” he said.

Under the National Infrastructure Pipeline, the total investment by both the Center and State Governments in the port sector between FY20 and FY25 is estimated at Rs 121,194 crore.

For projects implemented by the Centre, around 58 identified projects are planned for implementation in 2020-25.

IIFCL has supported the sector in the past and will continue to explore ways to fund port infrastructure development and support the government’s vision of making India a developed nation by 2047, he said.

With the improvement of various parameters, the institute has transformed itself from a lender of the last mile to the preferred financier.

So far, the state-owned infrastructure finance company has approved around 650 projects with a total expenditure of Rs 11.5 lakh crore, 500 of which are Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects.