The larger trend around Adani's plan to build port in Philippines

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ), India’s largest private port operator, has expressed interest in developing the port of Bataan in Philippines, confirmed an official statement from the Presidential Communications Office on Friday.

The announcement lends itself to speculation of “quid pro quo", coming as it does within days of India delivering its first batch of BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles to the Philippines amid rising tensions over Manila's maritime disputes with Beijing.

How US promotes private firms

The US routinely promotes its private companies that deal in military ware.

It has been placing some of the sophisticated technologies under restrictive regime even while dealing with friendly nations. The restrictions are often removed on a quid pro quo basis when the recipient nation either modifies its foreign/strategic policies or in some cases agrees to buy other technologies and wares from the US.

However, in India’s case, eyebrows are being raised because only select companies turn beneficiaries.

Adani's Philippine deal

In 2022, the Philippines signed a deal worth $378 million to acquire three batteries of BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles from India to defend its territorial waters. Is India's delivery of the order in any way linked to Adani's port deal with the Southeast Asian nation? There has been no official word.

During a courtesy call with President Ferdinand R Marcos Jr at Malacañang on Thursday, APSEZ managing director Karan Adani expressed the company’s interest in “stability and favourable regulatory environments”.

The company plans to develop a 25-meter-deep port that can accommodate Panamax vessels. Panamax vessels are cargo ships designed to maximise the carrying capacity of the Panama Canal. These vessels adhere to specific size limits, making them the largest size that can pass through the canal’s locks.

Marcos advised starting regionally, with the ports initially serving local or domestic shipping needs before expanding to the international market.

Adani in Sri Lanka project row

Earlier, the Adani Group found itself mired in a row over an energy project in Sri Lanka awarded to the group a couple of years back after a Lankan official's claim that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa acted under pressure from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The controversy broke out a day after Sri Lanka changed its laws to remove competitive bidding for energy projects. The Adani group figured in the parliamentary debate on the Electricity Amendment Bill before it was passed amid Opposition protests.

The Opposition charged the government with “ramming the bill through parliament” to facilitate large renewable energy deals to the Adani group, which signed an unsolicited government-to-government agreement to build the Mannar wind power plant.

MMC Ferdinando, the chairman of Sri Lanka's Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), resigned three days after he claimed before a parliamentary panel that he was told by President Rajapaksa about Modi pressuring him to give the wind power project directly to the Adani Group.

Though the government didn’t react to the claim, which the official retracted later, Rajapaksa emphatically denied it.

Rafale deal heat on Ambani

Prior to Adani’s Sri Lanka row, it was Indian industrialist Anil Ambani who was in the news after being chosen by Rafale manufacturer Dassault for an offset contract in the Rafale deal.

Former French President Francois Hollande dropped a bombshell amid raging controversy over India's 2016 purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft.

In 2018, Hollande told French news portal Mediapart that the Indian government had proposed the name of the Anil Ambani group as an industrial partner. His statements contradicted what the Modi government had maintained since the controversy broke in November 2017.

Hollande's statement was in stark contrast to the government's assertions that it had nothing to do with Anil Ambani's presence in the deal. “I've not put his name or anyone in the Inter Governmental Agreement nor can I tell a commercial firm to enter into an agreement,” the then Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had told the media just three days earlier, reiterating the line the government's taken since the Congress seized upon Rafale as an issue in November 2017.