JSW Infrastructure clinches Kolkata port project, edging out Adani Group

The $24 billion JSW Group’s port and logistics division, JSW Infrastructure, has won the contract to renovate and run two berths at Calcutta’s Netaji Subhas Dock (NSD), strengthening the conglomerate’s commercial links with Bengal. By agreeing to pay ₹4678 per container as royalty to Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Calcutta (SMPK), which oversees the NSD, the business overtook Adani Group to secure the 30-year concession to run the berths for cargo handling.

JSW Infra, which had previously expressed interest in building the Tajpur port but lost out to Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone (APSEZ), will be undertaking its first port and logistics project in Bengal. However, following committing to a thermal power project at Salboni for ₹16,000 crore, this is the second investment call by the Jindal-led Group for Bengal in 2025. According to the bidding document, the projected project cost for modernizing berths 7 and 8 and reconstructing berth no. 8 at NSD under the Calcutta Dock System is ₹698.84 crore. The berths are anticipated to handle 4,48,140 TEU (twenty equivalent units) annually. It could be feasible to increase the capacity even further, though.