IRFC signs Rs 13,527 cr loan agreement with Hyderabad Metro for debt refinancing

The Indian Railway Finance Corporation has signed a deal to refinance the Hyderabad Metro Rail project with a term loan of Rs 13,527 crore.

State-owned Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) on Monday signed an agreement with L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Ltd to refinance the debt obligations of the Hyderabad Metro Rail project.

Under the agreement, IRFC will provide a term loan of Rs 13,527 crore to refinance the debt obligations of the Hyderabad Metro Rail project.

IRFC will disburse Rs 13,500 crore to Hyderabad Metro by June this year, as per the agreement, IRFC Chairman and Managing Director Manoj Kumar Dubey said.

Hyderabad Metro is the first metro project financed by IRFC, and the Railway Ministry PSU expects to finance more such brownfield projects in the near future.

''It is going to be a game changer not only for Hyderabad Metro but there are 50 metros in the pipeline and going forward, there will be a lot of business,'' he added.

To fulfil Hyderabad Metro's financing requirements, the company has raised ECB (external commercial borrowing) worth USD 1.1 billion in Japanese Yen.

According to Dubey, the company plans to raise Rs 70,000 crore from both domestic and overseas markets in the current financial year to support its business growth.