Exim Bank raises $1 bn via 10-year bond issue

Sandeep Dikshit

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 5

The Exim Bank has launched a $1-billion bond issue to provide support to overseas Indian projects and investment.

The Bank is attempting to support the Central government’s aggressive forays abroad in the infrastructure development sector. In the latest credit line overseas, India has offered $1 billion to Central Asia and promised $1 billion to develop the infrastructure in Russia’s Far-East.

India is also engaged in infrastructure projects in a large number of countries, mainly in South East and Central Asia and Africa, including Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Afghanistan and Mauritius.

The issue was launched in the Eastern markets (Hong Kong and Singapore) on January 4 and within three hours it was oversubscribed twice. At the close, with US investors also coming in, the issue was oversubscribed by more than 3.5 times, with several high-quality issuers having to settle for less than their requested allocations.

“With the upsurge in GST numbers, improvement in GDP, and the recent approval of vaccines, the confidence in the India story is surging once again. With a strong market opening trade from India’s Exim Bank, many other Indian issuers are likely to follow suit to access the foreign currency bond market,” said Exim Bank MD David Rasquinha.