Adani Group eyes overseas port projects following US funding: report

New York: Adani Group is looking forward to expand its port empire further, aiming to take on China’s expansive port projects across the world, according to Bloomberg News.

The group has inked $553 million US government financing deal for a port terminal in Colombo, CEO of Adani Group’s Ports & SEZ Limited Karan Adani reportedly said.

The announcement comes months after the company had gone through a damning attack by a US based short-seller.

The US deal will help the company scale up its operations as well as fortifying its image internationally.

The US participation in the projects signals at its greater interest of targeting China than just business.

The US support for Adani Group’s port empire is aimed at containing China’s maritime influence in the Indian Ocean, according to the report.

India Ocean is a busy place with world’s more than one-third of cargo traffic and two-thirds of oil shipments.

According to Chakri Lokapriya, chief investment officer at TCG Asset Management Co. in Mumbai, Adani Group’s port empire could help India ‘ counter’ China’s ports from Sri Lanka to Pakistan.

Bloomberg News reported Karan Adani as saying that the Group is focusing on ‘opportunities in our neighbouring countries’.

The ventures in the neigbhouring countries might include potential ones in Bangladesh, Tanzania, Vietnam alongside its current projects Sri Lanka and Israel.

Although Adani Group is known to be India’s largest port operator, it is a minor player in comparison to China’s global expansion in port business, according to the report.

Adani Group boasts of 14 domestic terminals ‘that can handle 600 million metric tons of capacity.’

China has built up more than 90 ports outside the country with majority ownership in 13 of them, the report said citing the US Council on Foreign Relations.

Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington, said that it is hard for Adani or any others to outshine China’s infrastructure investments anytime soon.

Adani Group still has possibilities as China, according to the report, is moving away from major bilateral infrastructure deals.

This has to do with the debt crisis that many countries have plunged into following its projects.