Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), which has earned profit Rs 1,350 crore in 2016-17, has roped in SBI Caps as consultants to suggest multiple options including external commercial borrowings (ECB) for fund raising to finance various projects worth Rs 5,000 crore.
JNPT deputy chairman Neeraj Bansal told DNA Money, "JNPT is expected to meet the expenses through its own accruals, but SBI Caps will advise, especially to mop up funds through ECB. With forex earnings set to increase as the port handles larger volumes, the foreign borrowing is likely to be timed to balance any currency risks.''
Bansal said JNPT has launched expanding its capacity to 10 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEUs) by 2022 from the present level of 4.5 million TEU mainly through seaside deepening project worth Rs 2,000 crore and the land side road network project to improve connectivity with hinterland with an investment of Rs 3,000 crore. ''The first phase of the 4th terminal will be completed by December 2017 and the special economic zone (SEZ) on 270 hectare will become available to users by December 2018. About Rs 500 crore are spent on the infrastructure development in the proposed SEZ which is expected to bring in investments of about Rs 4,000-5,000 crore by industries, both Indian and multi-national, and create about 1.5 lakh new jobs,'' he said.
Further, JNPT proposes to monetize large parcel of land for developing core port operations such as cold storage, warehouses and bio-fuel industry.
JNPT has embarked on resolving congestion issues through two key initiatives – Direct Port Entry and Direct Port Delivery – aimed at reducing unnecessary lags in processing and these initiatives have led to cost and time savings. ''These initiatives have led to cost reduction for export handling from $60 to $1 per truck on one hand, and a time reduction from an average of 7-8 days to under 30 hours on the other for import,'' he said.
Volumes are seeing an uptick, with an 8% jump in cargo handled in the last two months (April-May), says Bansal. The government terminal itself saw a jump of record 20% to 1.53 million TEU this year.
The port is also increasing its outreach initiatives to the industry in the hinterland through the construction of dry ports at Jalna and Wardha. The Detailed Project Report of the Jalna project is already completed.
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