Industry Odisha Bureau, Oct 05: DIAL raises ₹3,500 crore through 15-year rupee NCDs. The money will refinance $522.6 million of dollar bonds due in October 2026. A $500 million maturity still awaits in June 2029.
Delhi’s main airport operator is moving part of its debt from dollars to rupees. Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) has raised ₹3,500 crore through long-term rupee borrowing. The money will refinance $522.6 million of dollar bonds, according to people familiar with the development. Those notes carry a 6.125% coupon and mature in October 2026.
Fifteen years of rupee funding
DIAL issued 15-year rupee-denominated non-convertible debentures, or NCDs. These are debt instruments that cannot be converted into shares.
The NCDs carry an initial coupon of 8.71% a year. Interest is paid quarterly. The coupon is linked to the RBI repo rate, with a 375-basis-point spread. It will reset after five years and again after 10 years. So the 8.71% rate is not fixed for the full 15 years.
Institutions take the debt
Domestic financial institutions took up the issue. India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) was the largest investor at ₹1,426 crore. NIIF Infrastructure Finance put in ₹550 crore.
Among banks, HDFC Bank subscribed ₹481 crore and ICICI Bank ₹433 crore. IDFC First Bank took ₹409 crore, while SBI Capital Markets subscribed ₹200 crore. Infrastructure lenders and large banks dominate the investor list.
Arrangers and anchors
HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank arranged the issue. The key information document names four anchor investors. They are HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, IDFC First Bank and NIIF Infrastructure Finance. Together, they received a combined anchor allocation of ₹1,050 crore. IIFCL, though the largest subscriber, is not among the named anchors.
The dollar bonds being replaced
The proceeds have a clear purpose. They will fund full redemption, repurchase or refinancing of the 2026 notes. Part will also cover issue-related costs.
The new borrowing replaces a dollar obligation with a rupee one. It does not erase the debt. Instead, it changes the currency and stretches the repayment horizon.
The next deadline remains
The refinancing does not end DIAL’s dollar exposure. It will still have $500 million of dollar bonds due in June 2029.
ICRA says DIAL could partly repay these through internal cash accruals. Land monetisation could also contribute, the rating agency said. The balance could then be refinanced. These are ICRA’s assessments, not commitments made by DIAL.
Refinancing risk beyond 2026
ICRA describes DIAL’s capital structure as moderately leveraged. It has flagged bullet repayments in the medium term. A bullet repayment means the full principal falls due on one date. That concentrates repayment pressure around specific deadlines.
ICRA said this exposes the company to refinancing risk. It named October 2026 and June 2029 as the major maturities. The new 15-year NCDs push this tranche’s repayment far into the future. But they do not remove refinancing risk altogether.
Who owns the airport operator
DIAL is a joint venture between GMR Airports Ltd and Airports Authority of India. GMR Airports holds 74%, while AAI owns 26%. DIAL operates Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. It runs the airport under a 30-year concession. That concession can be extended by another 30 years.
Longer rupee debt, another dollar deadline
The ₹3,500 crore deal addresses DIAL’s nearest dollar deadline. It replaces a near-term foreign obligation with long-term domestic debt. Yet another major test arrives in June 2029. For DIAL, the task now is managing maturities, not just raising money.
