The Maharashtra cabinet, in a meeting held on June 26 in Mumbai, has asked the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to explore a one-time settlement of the debt owed by Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd (MMOPL), with the lenders.
The total debt, including interest, amounts to ₹3,000 crore.
Mumbai Metro is a joint venture of Reliance Infrastructure and MMRDA, with Reliance Infra holding 74 per cent stake, while the balance is owned by the MMRDA.
In March, MMOPL signed a debt settlement agreement with the lenders, committing to pay ₹1,700 crore as a one-time settlement of its entire debt. As part of this, MMRDA and MMOPL had made an upfront payment of ₹171 crore to the lenders.
According to sources, the MMRDA Commissioner may soon convene a meeting of all six lenders of MMOPL, including State Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Canara Bank, Indian Bank, Bank of Maharashtra and IIFCL (UK), to deliberate on the one-time settlement of the company’s debt.
March resolution
In March, the Maharashtra State cabinet had passed a resolution, whereby MMRDA was to acquire Reliance Infrastructure’s 74 per cent stake in MMOPL for ₹4,000 crore, but MMRDA expressed its inability to raise funds for this acquisition.
Therefore, in the June 26 meeting, the State cabinet reversed its earlier decision and cancelled the earlier resolution of strategic acquisition of Reliance Infra’s stake, and instead directed the MMRDA to pursue one-time settlement of MMOPL’s debt with its six lenders.
Sources said that between April 2023 and June 2024, MMOPL has regularly paid interest to the lenders, amounting to over ₹225 crore.
Mumbai Metro, inaugurated in June 2014, spans 11.4 km between Versova, Andheri and Ghatkopar. It is the city’s oldest and busiest metro line with daily ridership exceeding 4.5 lakh commuters.