India’s Reliance Industries is in talks with foreign-currency loan lenders to raise up to $2 billion to fund the expansion of its oil-to-telecom conglomerate, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing sources.

Reliance, led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, plans to use India’s dedicated external commercial borrowing route to secure the loan, the report said. The facility may have a maturity period of three to five years and part of the proceeds will also be used to refinance a loan that matures in September, Bloomberg report added.

Bank of America, Citigroup and Standard Chartered are among the lenders involved in the loan discussions, Bloomberg reported. Reliance and the banks did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Reliance had said in August last year that it plans to invest Rs 750 billion ($9.12 billion) over five years to expand its oil to chemical business.

“We are committed to maximise oil to chemicals integration and convert our advantageous feedstock streams to high-value chemicals and green materials,” Ambani had said at an annual shareholders meeting.

Among other moves, the conglomerate has been expanding its 5G services in the country, bolstering its streaming platform, JioCinema, with new content deals, offering cricket tournaments for free at its platform after spending billions to buy rights and making investments in green energy projects. JioCinema has signed a partnership with NBC Universal Media to increase Hollywood content on the platform for Indian viewers.

ONGC, IOC pact in petrochem

India’s top oil and natural gas producer ONGC has signed a pact with the nation’s largest oil refining and fuel marketing company Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) for exploring opportunities in the petrochemicals business.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and IOC “signed a memorandum of understanding to explore downstream opportunities, especially in petrochemicals, both greenfield projects and through acquisitions,” ONGC said in a tweet.

ONGC, which produces two-thirds of the nation’s oil that is refined into fuels like petrol and diesel and more than half of gas that is used to make fertilisers and turned into CNG, already has two downstream petrochemical plants through subsidiaries.

As nations transition away from polluting fossil fuels to low-carbon sources of energy like hydrogen and use of electricity to power automobiles, oil companies the world over are reinventing themselves.

Crude oil, which is currently refined in refineries to produce petrol and diesel, is to be directly converted into petrochemicals that form building blocks for a range of plastics, paints, detergents and tires.

The demand for petrochemicals in India is projected to grow exponentially as the per capita consumption was much lower world average.

Last month, oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri stated at a conference that the chemical market in India is projected to grow to $300 billion this decade from $178 billion.

India is expected to account for more than 10 per cent of the world’s growth in petrochemicals, a press statement issued by the PIB on May 19 quoted the minister as saying.

PTI