India's First Blue Financing
JNPA Secures $70 Million For India's First Blue Financing Port Project
Anonymous
The International Finance Corporation has committed $70 million to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority for shore-power infrastructure across its terminals, enabling ships at berth to shut down diesel engines and use electricity from land. The project is expected to cut carbon emissions by 63%, reduce harmful air pollution by up to 90% and create more than 400 jobs. JNPA describes the deal as India’s first blue financing for the maritime sector and the Asia-Pacific’s first labelled blue financing for port infrastructure; it is also reported as the first development-finance investment in a state-owned major port authority in India. The project will be rolled out in two phases over two to three years, beginning at one container terminal before expanding to other terminals, and is targeted for completion by January 2028. Since commercial-scale shore power has not yet been deployed at a major Indian port, IFC financing is intended to help manage early-stage risks and demonstrate a model that could be adopted elsewhere.
Key Points
1
The $70 million loan is a 10-year, US-dollar-linked external commercial borrowing, signed in New Delhi on September 24, and does not carry a sovereign guarantee.
2
The shore-power system will use 33-kV substations, cable systems, e-houses, frequency converters and shore-side connection points at multiple berths.
3
JNPA’s new commercial-vessel project extends an existing shore-power service for port craft, whose facility was enhanced in 2021; the new rollout excludes the liquid-cargo terminal.
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The IFC investment expands on an earlier, smaller plan: in July 2024, JNPA had outlined a roughly ₹100 crore pilot at one terminal, with a port-wide rollout estimated at about ₹600 crore and 74 MW of power capacity.
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JNPA Chairperson Gaurav Dayal said IFC funding would let the authority “manage early-stage commercial risks, build operational experience, and bring international best-practices” before scaling up.
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