Adani gives Navi Mumbai airport a $1 bn push

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MUMBAI : The Adani Group has invested close to $1 billion in Navi Mumbai International Airport Ltd, in a bid to start operations by December next year, two people with direct knowledge of the development said. Of the ₹8,625 crore (approximately $991 million) invested in the Navi Mumbai airport so far, Adani has made an equity infusion of ₹1,710 crore. It has also raised ₹2,900 crore in term loans from a consortium of banks, while an additional ₹3,655 crore equity came from the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Ltd (Cidco), a city planning agency in Maharashtra, these people said.

Adani and Cidco will invest an additional ₹1,511 crore as the project moves ahead. “The due diligence by the banks has been recently completed, which was followed by the investment," said one of the two people. On 19 July, while addressing an annual general meeting of shareholders, group chairman Gautam Adani said the Navi Mumbai airport will achieve operational readiness by December 2024.

“The plan is to start the first of the four international passenger terminals before December 2024," said the person cited earlier. This terminal is expected to handle at least 20 million passengers and 300,000 tonnes of cargo every year. It will ease the load at the country’s busiest airport, the Mumbai international airport, which will see 51 million passengers traverse through it this fiscal.

The current round of funding is enough to build the first two of the planned five phases of the Navi Mumbai airport, this person added. The project needs a total investment of $2.5 billion ( ₹20,853 crore), the person said. Of this, at least ₹12,770 crore is expected to be raised as term loans from a consortium of lenders, for which the