The Maldives has to pay a compensation of about $300 million to India's GMR for the premature termination of the agreement to develop the Maldives main international airport, President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom said on Saturday.

The president's comments come a day after GMR officials said that it stood by its compensation claim of $1.4 billion from the Maldives.

After returning to Male from Singapore, the president told local reporters at the airport that the Maldivian government could terminate the contract as it "damaged state and national interests". But since GMR had carried out some of the development works at the airport, the government has to pay compensation, he said.

"I doubt whether [the arbitrators] would decide to include, in the compensation payment, GMR's projected profit by running the airport for 25 years. … We believe that the compensation would amount to about $300 million or less," the president said.

President Yameen stressed that the compensation payment would affect the state budget, but added that $300 million is a "manageable" sum. The state owned Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL), which now runs the airport, is "saving up" that sum, he said.

The president's comments come a day after GMR officials said it stood by its compensation claim of $1.4 billion from the Maldives.

"The forceful takeover of the airport by the Maldives government amounts to repudiation of a valid contract and therefore damages, including loss of future profits, has to be paid. Thus, GMR's claim is $1.4 billion," GMR officials were quoted by India’s the Business Standard newspaper on Friday.

Former President Mohamed Nasheed's government had signed a 25-year lease with Indian infrastructure giant GMR to operate and develop the airport. But Nasheed's successor, Mohamed Waheed, had terminated the agreement following pressure from his allies.

The decision in 2012 to prematurely terminate the contract with GMR and expropriate the airport had sparked a diplomatic row with India which had threatened the long-standing relations between the two countries.

GMR is seeking a compensation of $1.4 billion from the Maldivian government for the "wrongful termination" of contract to develop the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA).

The preliminary hearings that would structure the arbitration process over the case concluded last week in an arbitration court in Singapore.