Mundra Port earmarks Rs 3200cr to grow across India

Port operator Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone intends to invest as much as Rs 3,200 crore to expand port operations across India over the next two to three years, a senior official told Reuters.

The company, part of the diversified Adani group, is developing ports at Goa, Hazira and Vizag.

It is investing Rs 2200-2500 crore to develop the port at Hazira in Gujarat, the firm's Chief Financial Officer B Ravi said.

It plans to pump in 4 billion rupees in Goa and another 3 billion rupees for the terminal at Vizag.

"It will be a mix of debt and equity as we have a low debt to equity today," he said, adding Rs 800-900 crore would be through internal accruals and the rest through debt.

Its debt equity stands at 0.5. It has debt of Rs 2700 crore.

Ravi said the company will also look at boosting its presence in India's eastern coast.

"We are looking at other ports. In the eastern sector, other than Vizag, we do not have any other. We are looking at ports in Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu."

Earlier in the day, the firm reported a 74% jump in the March quarter net profit as revenue rose on higher cargo and container volumes, and also forecast a five-fold growth in its port handling capacity by 2013.