New Delhi: More than a year after disbursing loans to Adani Group’s Ganga Expressway project, State Bank of India is in the process of down-selling half of the nearly Rs. 11,000-crore loan exposure to the longest-tolled tolled road project in the country.
The lender is in talks with financial institutions, such as the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID), Punjab National Bank (PNB) and some power finance companies, to downsell half of its exposure.
“SBI is down-selling Ganga Expressway loans to banks and financial institutions and is in the last leg of the process,” a banking industry source told ET. “SBI underwrote the entire amount with a view of down-selling part of it. It is up to the bank’s risk management team to decide on how much to keep and how much to down-sell.”
It is a standard practice in the infrastructure financing space for banks to down-sell portions of large loan exposures.
At least four lenders have shown interest in buying the debt from SBI, including the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID), REC, PFC and Union Bank of India, another banking source said.
The long-term loan fits well with the portfolio of NaBFID, an infrastructure-focused financier, as it seeks to sanction up to ₹1 lakh crore by March 2024. So far, it has disbursed Rs. 21,000 crore of loan.
