JNPT to raise Rs1,500-crore through tax-free infra bonds
25 Aug 2011
Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), the country's biggest container port, proposes to issue tax-free bonds to raise around Rs1,500 crore for development works this fiscal.
The issue proceeds will be used for undertaking dredging works in the current fiscal while JNPT may look to raise another Rs4,000 crore from the market depending on the response to the current issue.
JNPT plans to spend a total of Rs5,500 crore for dredging to increase the draft of the Mumbai harbour's channel, JNPT sources said.
"We can issue infra bonds of up to Rs5,000 crore and we will be raising Rs1,500 crore before March," JNPT chairman L Radhakrishnan said on the sidelines of a FICCI conference.
Of the planned Rs1,500-crore bonds, Rs500 crore will consist of 10-year bonds while the remaining Rs1,000 crore will have 15-year maturity, he said.
The dredging will be done in two phases, which will increase the draft of the channel from 11 meters currently to 17 meters at the end of the second phase.
