India tries something new with ocean-focused loans

India is testing fresh ways to pay for its massive ocean and water projects. A government company called Sagarmala wants to sell special bonds called ‘blue bonds’—the first of their kind in the country. These bonds work like regular loans but must be used only for clean-up efforts, port upgrades, shipyards, inland waterways, and roads along the coast. Instead of relying on short-term loans that have to be paid back in less than four years, Sagarmala wants to borrow for much longer—up to twelve years—to match how long it takes to build and run such big pieces of infrastructure. Market conditions are not ideal right now. Since the fighting between the U. S. and Iran started, the cost of borrowing in India has gone up by a small but noticeable amount. That makes investors more cautious about buying new bonds until prices settle down. Sagarmala has already picked three financial firms to help plan the sale, but no date has been set. The company’s boss said they will wait until the timing feels right.Sagarmala was set up in 2016 inside the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways. Later, in mid-2025, it got a licence to operate like a bank even though it isn’t a real bank. This licence lets it take deposits from certain investors and lend the money out again. Over the next few years, the company plans to raise as much as one hundred billion rupees to keep building ports, waterways, and roads that connect them. To make these loans cheaper for users, Sagarmala runs a 250-billion-rupee fund that includes 50 billion rupees set aside to cut interest costs for borrowers. It also wants the government to give it 20 billion rupees in fresh capital so it doesn’t borrow too much compared to its own money.