DMRC seeks to raise Rs 2,700 crore loan to pay Reliance Infrastructure

DMRC has written to 18 banks, requesting bids to raise a Rs 2,700-crore loan, a month after the Supreme Court ordered the Delhi Metro Rail Corp (DMRC) to bring Rs 4,600 crore out of its coffers for a long-standing liability to a Reliance Infra (RInfra) subsidiary.

The court maintained a Delhi High Court decision that DMRC pay the arbitral award money, plus interest, to Reliance Infra’s Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (DAM­EPL) in two equal instalments.

According to sources close to the situation, the requested loan amount is the balance owed by DMRC to DAMEPL. DMRC has already paid Rs 2,445 crore to Reliance Industries through periodic escrow account contributions in accordance with prior court rulings.

DMRC had accumulated an interest liability of approximately Rs 300 crore as of May 31 due to delays in payment to DAMEPL. The company’s incremental interest load is currently increasing by more over Rs 1.15 crore every day.

The capital expenditure loan is for the purchase of Delhi Metro’s airport line assets, according to a letter sent to banks including SBI, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Canara Bank, HDFC, ICICI, Kotak, and PNB.

In the letter, the metro operator requested that banks submit individual or consortium-represented pricing offers by May 30. However, the deadline has been pushed back until Friday. The loan will be drawn in the next 12 months, according to DMRC.

The loan will be for 15 years, with 44 quarterly principle repayments and monthly interest payments after a four-year moratorium period, according to DMRC’s terms and conditions. The Centre was also mulling a proposal to issue a sovereign guarantee against the debt, according to the letter. Since DAMEPL’s withdrawal from the Delhi Metro Airport Line operations due to safety concerns originating from structural flaws, the two companies have been at odds.

In 2017, an arbitral court decided in favour of RInfra, ordering DMRC to repay DAMEPL the money it had borrowed from 11 banks.

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