Top public and private sector banks have lined up to take a bite of a rare greenfield project finance loan by Adani Enterprises Limited (BSE:512599) as lead lender State Bank of India (NSEI:SBIN) (SBI) looks to sell down a large chunk of the INR 200,000 million credit line it had sanctioned earlier this year for the conglomerate's petrochemicals debut. Bank of Baroda Limited (NSEI:BANKBARODA) (BoB), Punjab National Bank (NSEI:PNB)(PNB), Union Bank of India (NSEI:UNIONBANK), Central Bank of India (NSEI:CENTRALBK), ICICI Bank Limited (NSEI:ICICIBANK) and Axis Bank Limited (BSE:532215) have either committed or are in the process of committing funds to the $4-billion polyvinyl chloride (PVC) project at Mundra in Gujarat, people familiar with the developments said. The 15-year loan was priced at 9.25% by SBI earlier this year.

"SBI was the sole underwriter for this loan a few months ago and has also disbursed a few hundred crores already. They plan to down sell it to other banks which is in line with their strategy. The bank plans to retain INR 50,000 million-INR 70,000 million and down sell the rest of the loan, which will eventually be disbursed by other banks," said a person familiar with the matter.

The SBI loan was sanctioned for a greenfield polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant to be set up by Adani Enterprises in Mundra Gujarat. The 2 million tonne PVC plan is the Adani's Group's first foray into the petrochemical sector and is expected to double India's capacity to make the plastic polymer which is used to make raincoats, wires, plastic pipes, shower curtains and medical equipment among other things. "This is a huge greenfield project and an interesting one for banks to be part off because this is a highly rated credit.

The commodity to be manufactured, the amount of the loan and the credit rating of the group is why so many banks are open to taking a share," said a second person aware of the process. Spokespersons at the Adani Group, SBI, BoB, PNB, Union Bank, Central Bank, ICICI and Axis Bank did not reply to separate emails seeking comment.