Exim Bank on fund raising spree

Export-Import Bank of India is set to more than double its total resource base by raising $800 million overseas and Rs 6,000 crore from the domestic market in 2006-07.

T C Venkat Subramanian, chairman and managing director of Exim Bank said, "We will raise $800 million in a mix of appropriate instruments. It might include Japanese Samurai bonds and medium term notes (MTN)."

He was speaking on the sidelines of a banking conclave organised by FICCI-eastern regional council.

At present, Exim Bank has total foreign currency resources of $785 million and rupee resource of Rs 4,384 crore.

The bank is also targeting a 25 per cent growth in loan disbursement during 2006-07 over last year's comparable figure of Rs 15,039 crore, he added. The total loans sanctioned in 2005-06 were Rs 20,489 crore, recording an annual growth of 29 per cent, Subramanian added.

Meanwhile, the bank has set $100 million as the upper limit for its equity participation in overseas direct investment ventures by Indian corporate.

"We have been financing Indian direct investment overseas through debt and equity. The bank will be taking equity participation in more Indian ventures abroad, but at any point in time, we want to keep a upper band of $100 million for the purpose," Subramanian said.

Exim bank is close to buying a minority equity stake in a special purpose vehicle (SPV) floated by Tata group to buy Eight O'Clock Coffee Company in the US.

The equity holding would be worth $10 million, he added.

"We had equity participation in Rallis India's venture in Zimbabwe, Usha Martin's venture in UK. Most of similar equity holdings have already been sold," he added.

The bank is also in the process of investing $10 million in the Pan-Asia Project Development Fund (PPDF) sponsored by IL&FS and Orix Corporation, Japan.

"The objective is to catalyse involvement of Indian companies with project contractor capabilities towards participating in infrastructure projects across Asia by providing seed capital. We will be developing bankable projects and will be offloading it to potential contractors," he explained.