This comes just a year after the state-owned lender became India's first Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) exclusive to the maritime sector in June 2025.

This comes just a year after the state-owned lender became India's first Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) exclusive to the maritime sector in June 2025.

This comes just a year after the state-owned lender became India's first Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) exclusive to the maritime sector in June 2025.

The Sagarmala Finance Corporation Limited (SMFCL) has come a long way from its first maritime fund of ₹4,300 crore, with the Union shipping ministry announcing on Friday that the company had sanctioned ₹11,563 crore and disbursed ₹5,107 crore, as of September 30.

This comes just a year after the state-owned lender became India's first Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) exclusive to the maritime sector in June 2025.

With more than half of the sanctioned amount still to be drawn as projects advance, the SMFCL has now set a long-term target of ₹60,205 crore in cumulative disbursements by the end of FY 2030-31, for which it will depend on equity support to scale up, in line with RBI norms and its debt-to-equity ratio.

"SMFCL is playing a pivotal role in mobilising long-term finance for port-led development, enhancing shipbuilding and coastal connectivity and catalysing the overall growth of our maritime economy," said Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW), Sarbananda Sonowal, about Sagarmala's rise.

He was speaking at the inauguration of the SMFCL's corporate office at the Institute for Studies in Industrial Development (ISID), New Delhi.

Earlier this year, the maritime NBFC had also disbursed its first loan of ₹150 crore to the Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) and another ₹110 crore loan to Goa Shipyard from the ₹4,300 maritime fund, which it subsequently scaled up to ₹8,000 crore in FY 2025-26.

The start of the new fiscal had then seen it aim to scale up its bursary to ₹10,000 crore ($1 billion), as India's maritime sector finds itself well on the way of the goals outlined in the Maritime India Vision 2030 and Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047, within which a dedicated maritime financing framework plays a pivotal role.

In fact, the role of maritime financing in the sector was extensively discussed at THE WEEK Maritime Conclave 2026 as well, with Sonowal pointing out that India needed to move "faster than a bullet train" amid the rapid expansion in capacity.

Sessions on ports, shipbuilding, and building robust supply chains—among others—built on this point, showing that physical infrastructure alone isn't enough without aligning supportive tax, customs, and financing frameworks to drive long-term capital inflows into the sector and keep its growth trajectory steady.

The MoPSW also notified that the Maritime Development Fund (MDF), which is important to its ₹69,725 crore maritime support package from September 2025, was progressing well.

The MDF has a corpus of ₹25,000 to provide long-term financing, and comprises a Maritime Investment Fund (MIF) of ₹20,000 crore—which gets 49 per cent participation from the Centre—and an Interest Incentivization Fund (IIF) of ₹5,000 crore to reduce the effective cost of debt and improve project bankability.

SBI Ventures Limited is the official fund manager for the MIF. Registration as an Alternative Investment Fund with SEBI is due to be completed by the end of November this year, while January 2027 has been set as the target for the first close of ₹5,000 crore.

The IIF's online portal, www.iifmdf.in, is live, and loans of ₹4,500 crore have been supported so far. About ₹25 crore of interest subvention has been released against interest paid by borrowers, the MoPSW's notification said about the progress of the IIF.

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