State-run ports to raise Rs 5,000 crore by March 2012

The Shipping Ministry on Thursday said two of the country’s major ports and a proposed company to invest and acquire stakes in overseas port and container terminals will raise Rs 5,000 crore through the issue of tax-free bonds by March, 2012.

“Ennore Port and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust will raise Rs 1,000 crore each through the issue of tax-free bonds in the current fiscal,” Shipping Secretary K. Mohandas told reporters here on Thursday while unveiling the logo for the India Maritime Week, scheduled in January next year.

The remaining Rs 3,000 crore, a Shipping Ministry official said, will be raised by Indian Ports Global, a company to be set up by the Ministry of Shipping that will invest and acquire stakes in overseas ports on the pattern of Dubai Port International and Singapore’s PSA International.

The proposal for setting up the company is in the final stages and is likely to be sent to Cabinet next month, the official said.

“I hope to have it (Indian Ports Global) before the close of this calendar year,” Mr. Mohandas said.

In this year’s Budget, the government allowed the Shipping Ministry to issue port sector bonds to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore.

India at present has 13 major ports — Kolkata, Paradip, Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Tuticorin, Cochin, New Mangalore, Mormugao, Mumbai, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, Kandla, Port Blair and Ennore.

On the proposed disinvestment in Cochin Shipyard and Dredging Corporation of India, Mr. Mohandas said there will be no disinvestment this fiscal.

“No disinvestment will happen this fiscal. Shipping industry is not at its best,” Mr. Mohandas said.

On the port projects to be awarded this fiscal, he said a total of 23 projects valued at Rs 17,000 crore will be put up for bidding this year, of which eight will be awarded in the next two months.

In January this year, the ministry had come out with a new Maritime Agenda, which includes a Rs 3 lakh crore investment in the ports sector by 2020.

India has one of the largest merchant shipping fleets among the maritime countries. Cargo traffic at these major ports is projected at 615.70 million tonnes (MT) during 2011-12.