BENGALURU (Reuters) -India’s Reliance Industries is in talks with foreign-currency loan lenders to raise up to $2 billion to fund the expansion of its oil-to-telecom conglomerate, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing sources.
Reliance, led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, plans to use India’s dedicated external commercial borrowing route to secure the loan, the report said.
The facility may have a maturity period of three to five years and part of the proceeds will also be used to refinance a loan that matures in September, Bloomberg report added.
Bank of America, Citigroup and Standard Chartered are among the lenders involved in the loan discussions, Bloomberg reported.
Reliance and the banks did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Reliance had said in August last year that it plans to invest 750 billion rupees ($9.12 billion) over 5 years to expand its oil to chemical business.
Among other moves, the conglomerate has been expanding its 5G services in the country, bolstering its streaming platform, JioCinema, with new content deals, offering cricket tournaments for free at its platform after spending billions to buy rights and making investments in green energy projects. ($1 = 82.2362 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee and Meenakshi Maidas in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
