The global lead arrangers for the facility are State Bank of India, ABN Amro Bank, Credit Suisse First Boston, ANZ Investment Bank and Citicorp International. KBC, Credit Lyonnais and Bank of America will join the list at a later stage.

The facility carries a coupon of 3.75 per cent over the London inter-bank offered rate (Libor). The all-in cost is likely to work out over 4 per cent over Libor. The State Bank has underwritten the maximum portion of the loan -- about $175 million.

Apart from the $557-million commercial-term loan, there are three 12-year foreign-currency tranches: A $173-million ministry of international trade (Miti-Japan) guaranteed loan, priced at close to 125 basis points (bps) over Libor, a $90-millionBelgian ECA-guaranteed loan at 75 bps over Libor, and a $260-million loan from J-Exim, adding to $523 million or in all, nearly $1.2 billion in foreign-currency loans. The Belgian ECA deal was signed on March 24.

The balance debt portion will be in rupees, sourced from three term-lending institutions-- Industrial Development Bank of India, ICICI, Industrial Finance Corporation of India-- and one State Bank of India subsidiary, SBIC&IM.

Funding for Phase-I was tied up in March 1995. The 740mw Phase-I was jointly funded by the US Exim Bank ($298 million), the Overseas Private Investment Corporation ($100 million), a syndicate of Indian banks led by IDBI ($95 million), Bank of America and ABN-Amro Bank ($150 million) and amongst others Credit Lyonnais, Bank of Nova Scotia and Toronto Dominion Bank.