JSW Steel Seeks Upto $900 mn for Syndicated Loan to Expand

JSW Steel Ltd, India’s largest steel manufacturer, is on a lender hunt to raise $900m in loans from a pool of international lenders comprising European banks, Japanese banks, and Middle Eastern banks. The lender is seeking loans for financing expansion projects and general corporate purposes. It looks strategic as a part of the trend when Indian companies begin preferring foreign currency loans due to the high domestic funding rate in India.

Sources familiar with the development said almost 10 international financial institutions were in discussion to syndicate the loan. The tenure for the loan is likely to be between five and six years. Other details are still to be firmed up. JSW Steel remained unavailable to comment on the loan talks so far.

This comes in the wake of a broader trend for Indian companies to issue foreign debt amid limited liquidity in the country and with interest rates being higher in India. Large firms, such as Reliance Industries and Greenko Energy Holdings, also raised funds internationally during the recent period. According to Bloomberg, Indian issuers borrowed $23.3 billion from foreign currency loans in 2024. It is relatively 2.3% less than the 2023 tally of $29.2 billion but much more than the $14.4 billion recorded in 2022.

JSW Steel, with a production capacity of 35.71 million tons per annum, is not new to raising offshore funds. The company recently successfully raised a syndicated loan worth $900 million with a five-year tenure in June 2024.

With growth continuing in the Indian steel industry, securing foreign funding has become strategically important for major players such as JSW Steel to retain the formation and competitiveness of this industry on the global platform.