(HT)
India’s National Bank for Financing Infrastructure & Development, or NaBFID, is planning to enter the overseas credit market for the first time, and aims to raise as much as $2 billion through loans and bonds this financial year, according to people familiar with the matter.
Initially, the state-owned infrastructure lender plans to raise at least $250 million through an external commercial borrowing loan with a tenor of three-to-five years, said the people, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The agency is engaging with rating companies to obtain a rating, they said.
NaBFID didn’t respond to a Bloomberg request seeking comment. The government created NaBFID in 2021 to attract new capital, augment the bond market and shrink the sector’s financing gap. That gap is a major obstacle for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plans to transform the Indian economy, especially as private investment has waned over the last decade, according to a report by Knight Frank. A NaBFID rating could come as early as next month with the first loan in June, one of the people said. However, the plans could change if economic uncertainties intensify amid tariff hikes, the people said.
A fresh $2 billion in borrowing would certainly deepen India’s market for offshore debt, which is relatively small compared to Asian peers like South Korea. Indian companies issued about $13 billion of dollar bonds last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
