Continued from P1

The IRFC carried out due diligence and sanctioned the financing, whilst the state government provided sovereign-level repayment safeguards including a Direct Debit Mechanism by the RBI. The agreements were signed, Rs 1,461.47 crore was deposited into escrow, and Rs 784.32 crore was paid as an upfront fee. Although the drawdown date was June 15, the disbursement did not take place.

The state government has addressed concerns relating to operational integration of Metro Phase-I and Phase-II, requesting sanction for Phase-II as a 50:50 Joint Venture between the state and the union government.

However, in case that approval gets delayed, the state government has expressed its willingness to proceed with Phase-II through its own resources and institutional financing arrangements.