Indian petrochemical group, Reliance Industries has won a US$400mn loan to develop its petrochemical plants in India.

Italy’s export credit agency (ECA) Sace is providing insurance in support of the Italian contracts.

Sace could not disclose the names of the banks involved in the deal when contacted by GTR.

“Sace’s guarantee is both a relevant growth catalyst and an important leverage for the competitiveness of Italian exporters, along with quality and price of products,” explains Alessandro Castellano, Sace chief executive officer.

“The deal signed confirms our partnership with a key global player like Reliance Industries and paves the way for further promotion of trade-related business between Indian and Italian companies, particularly the large number of small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the country,” Castellano adds.

The funds will finance the expansion and upgrade of Reliance’s petrochemical plants, a gasification plant and refinery off-gas cracker as part of an investment plan in India worth over US$11bn.

Sace has now backed US$1bn-worth of credit facilities for Reliance, and with a €700mn project pipeline in India, the ECA is set to open a new office in Mumbai as a hub for South Asia.

The office will be headed by Indian manager Amit Roy, who has more than ten years of experience in banking, particularly in trade and project finance. Before joining Sace, he worked for ICICI Bank, Citicorp Credit India and IDBI Bank.