Sagarmala Finance Corp Ltd is in talks with banks to raise up to ₹4,000 crore ($467 million) to support the shipping sector, its managing director said Thursday. 

The shipping sector is staring at a funding vacuum, Dilip Kumar Gupta said on the sidelines of an industry event in Delhi. “We needed a government entity that will support only this sector as its funding needs are huge.”

The New Delhi-based company, presented by Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday, will unlock finance for small businesses such as barge operators and cruise and fishing vessels, which have been finding it hard to secure loans from banks. The lender received the Reserve Bank of India’s approval to operate as a non-banking financial company earlier this month.

Sagarmala is in talks with banks, including Punjab National Bank and HDFC Bank, to help meet its lending goal for the current fiscal year, Gupta said. 

Risk averse banks have been hesitant to support the government’s 2047 plan for the maritime sector, which seeks an investment of 80 trillion rupees to expand port capacity and boost shipbuilding.

SFCL can independently lend up to ₹ 150 crore per project, but for bigger funding needs it will form partnerships with other public financial institutions, Gupta said. It aims to more than double its loan offering to 10 billion rupees in the next fiscal, he added. 

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Published on June 26, 2025