Long-gestation infrastructure in India suffers from a structural financing gap. Examine the role of sector-specific NBFCs such as SMFCL in bridging it, with reference to the maritime sector.

Ports, shipyards and coastal links take years to build and decades to repay. Banks, however, fund themselves with short-term deposits. This asset-liability mismatch creates a structural financing gap. Sagarmala Finance Corporation Ltd (SMFCL) was registered with the RBI as India's first maritime NBFC in June 2025. It is a sector-specific attempt to close this gap [1].

Why the gap persists

• Long tenor: commercial banks avoid the long payback periods of port and shipyard assets [1].
• Execution risk: only 172 of 802 Sagarmala projects were completed in 2015–21. Port modernisation saw cost overruns of about ₹20,000 crore [2].
• Capacity deficit: the 2016 shipbuilding subsidy paid only ₹620.57 crore to 23 shipyards for 204 vessels. The aid was paid only for delivered ships, and yards lacked the capacity to build them [3].

Role of SMFCL in bridging it

• Specialist lending: long-term loans for ports, port connectivity, inland waterways, shipbuilding and ship repair. It had sanctioned ₹11,563 crore by September 2026 [1].
• Blended finance: it channels the Government's ₹9,800 crore (49%) share of the ₹20,000 crore Maritime Investment Fund, a SEBI-registered AIF, to draw in private equity [1][4].
• Cheaper debt: it administers the ₹5,000 crore Interest Incentivisation Fund [4].
• De-risking: it manages the credit-risk cover under the ₹19,989 crore Shipbuilding Development Scheme [1][4].

Limitations

• Capital ceiling: it has disbursed ₹5,107 crore, against a target of ₹60,205 crore by FY2031. Reaching that needs fresh equity within RBI leverage norms [1].
• Disbursal lag: about 44% of sanctions have been disbursed. That is normal for infrastructure (NaBFID ~36%), but disbursal depends on how fast projects move [5].
• Overlap: NaBFID is a statutory DFI whose borrowings the government can guarantee, and it can already fund ports. A second state lender splits public capital [6].
• Non-finance bottlenecks: delays at Vadhavan port and the pending review of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 cannot be fixed by finance alone [2].

Way forward

• A multi-year equity commitment and NaBFID-style borrowing guarantees [6].
• Port-wise disclosure of delay reasons, as the Parliamentary Standing Committee recommended [2].

Sector-specific NBFCs like SMFCL complement generalist DFIs. They combine specialist knowledge of sector risk with the running of government schemes. SMFCL needs assured capital and faster project execution, and it should be judged by ships delivered rather than loans sanctioned. With these, it can anchor Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047's goal of making India a leading maritime nation [1].