Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ), the largest transport utility in India, announced its results for the fourth quarter and year ended March 31.

"FY22 has been a stellar year for APSEZ, with achievement of various milestones for itself and new benchmarks for India's maritime industry," said Karan Adani, Chief Executive Officer and Whole Time Director of APSEZ.

The company did a record cargo volume of 312 MMT with Mundra port alone handling 150 MMT, a feat never achieved by any other commercial port in the country.

"The year saw a record number of acquisitions and some large project wins by APSEZ, further reinforced our progress towards the ambition of becoming the largest port globally by 2030," Adani said.

The developments recorded include purchase of balance 25 per cent stake in KPCL, acquisition of Sarguja Rail Company for its 70 kms railway line asset having an annuity like business model, purchase of 41.9 per cent stake in the Gangavaram port and signing of an agreement with the promoters for acquisition of balance 58.1 per cent stake after the NCLT approval, acquisition of India's leading third-party marine services provider, Ocean Sparkle Ltd (OSL), LOA from Haldia Port Trust for a 5 MMTPA bulk terminal, highest bidder for the West Bengal government's greenfield deep-sea port project at Tajpur

The acquisitions in FY22 implied an investment of around Rs 11,400 crore for APSEZ and was successfully managed alongside an organic Capex of around Rs 3,750 crore, while ensuring that the net debt to EBITDA ratio remained unchanged at 3.4x.

"We cruised on our journey of becoming India's largest transport utility with achievement of various milestones by our logistics business. These include investment in around 100 trains, eight operational MMLPs and total grain silo capacity of around 1.2 MMT, all by FY23. With 5 mn sqft of warehousing capacity under construction/ operation, we are on track to achieve our guided capacity of 60 mn sqft," Adani said.

During the year, APSEZ concluded two very strategic partnerships ensuring sustainable business growth. The first being a JV with John Keells Holdings & Sri Lanka Port Authority for construction of Colombo West International Terminal-II; and the second is a partnership with Flipkart for the construction of a 5,34,000 sq. ft. fulfilment center in the upcoming logistics hub at Mumbai.

"We are confident of APSEZ's growth prospects in FY23, given India's expected GDP growth and boost to India's Iron and Steel industry from China's decision to cap its steel production and absence of exports from Russia. APSEZ is fully geared to ride this wave.

"We remain committed to our ambition of making our ports carbon neutral by 2025, and thereafter progress on the net zero journey, for which we will release our plan later this year," added Karan Adani.