India EXIM Bank’s first USD 1 billion 10-year sustainable bond under its Environment Social Governance (ESG) framework was listed on March 3, 2023 at India INX, Gifty IFSC by the bank’s Managing Director Harsha Bangari and Chief Financial Officer Tarun Sharma. India Exim Bank lists its maiden benchmark-sized 10-year Sustainability Bond at India INX-GIFT IFSC
On this occasion, the Secretary of the Financial Services Department under the Ministry of Finance of the Government of India Dr. Vivek Joshi and Chairperson of International Financial Services Centers Authority IFSCA Injeti Srinivas were present.
On January 10, 2023, India Exim Bank issued its first USD 1 billion 10-year sustainability bond in 144A/Reg-S format under its ESG framework. With this issue, India Exim Bank has become the first Indian issuer to open the market for dollar and sustainability bond issuances in the year 2023.
A strong start to the year and constructive market momentum saw India Exim Bank capitalize on strong demand and tightened intraday execution and initial price guidance by 30 bps, which ended at CT10+190 bps and at the fair value point on the curve.
In terms of geographical distribution, the distribution of bonds was symmetrical. 39% was distributed in EMEA region, 32% in APAC and 29% in USA. The bonds were distributed to high quality investors, with 70% to funds and asset managers, 12% to banks and 10% to sovereign wealth funds. It was then given to Insurance/Pension Corporations, Private Banks and others.
On this occasion, the Secretary of the Financial Services Department under the Ministry of Finance of the Government of India Dr. Vivek Joshi said, “The Government of India’s vision for GIFT-IFSC is in line with the vision of a self-reliant India, making India a global financial hub.
Today, the listing of India Exim Bank’s first-ever $1 billion 10-year sustainability bond is itself a testament to our commitment to strengthening India INX and GIFT-IFSC’s role in India’s climate action goals.”
IFSCA Chairperson Injeti Srinivas said, “We are delighted to see that India Exim Bank has listed its $1 billion sustainability bond on India INX. The capital raised by the India Exim Bank will be used to finance green and social projects in developing countries, among other things.
Thus, India’s role in accelerating capital inflows and capacity building in the field of sustainable finance in the Global South will be strengthened. This bond issue is in line with IFSCA’s objective of raising sustainable finance through GIFT IFSC.”
India EXIM Bank Managing Director Harsha Bangari said, “We are delighted to open up the debt market to Indian issuers with our first benchmark sized sustainability bond under the ESG framework. This issue demonstrates our strong commitment towards sustainable financing both in India and its partner developing countries and aligns us with the best practices in the world.
India INX is an important platform for our bonds and we are proud to say that India Exim Bank is jointly the largest bond issuer to list on India INX. Today’s ceremony is really special for us as we are holding a listing ceremony at India INX GIFT City for the first time.”
India EXIM Bank Chief Financial Officer Tarun Sharma said, “India EXIM Bank is actively monitoring the market for issuance opportunities. The bank’s quasi-sovereign nature, EMBIG index recognition of the bond and commitment towards sustainable financing attracted strong interest from well-known investors and the peak order book was 3.7 times.
Finally, nine months after its issuance in March 2022, India Exim Bank’s 2033 Sustainability Bond has reopened the G3 market for Indian issuers. India EXIM Bank has continuously worked towards expanding its ESG initiatives and has maintained transparency and dialogue with its stakeholders.
With facilities comparable to leading international financial centres, we look forward to continuing our listing on India INX and playing an important role in the growth of the exchange.”
Commenting on the listing, Arun Kumar Ganesh, Chief Business Operations and Listing at India INX said, “We are delighted to welcome India Exim Bank’s largest sustainability bond issuance of $1 billion to our exchange.
Gifty IFSC is emerging as the venue of choice to raise capital for sustainability and with strong partners like India Exim Banks who have supported IFSC since the exchange’s inception, we hope that IFSC will emerge as a gateway for raising foreign capital towards green financing and sustainable financing in India.
With this, the total bond amount listed on India INX has reached $50 billion. We congratulate India EXIM Bank for this success and look forward to a very strong line-up of Indian issuers in the current year.”
The net proceeds of the Sustainability Bond will be used for approved projects under the Bank’s ESG framework. The project is aligned with selected green and social categories, including renewable energy, clean transportation, essential services and basic infrastructure, affordable housing and sustainable water and wastewater management. Annual reporting of the use of proceeds received under the Sustainability Bond is subject to external verification.
Barclays, Bank of America, Citigroup, HSBC, JP Morgan, MUFG and Standard Chartered acted as joint lead managers and book runners to the offering. India Exim Bank has been rated ‘BBB- (Stable)’ by S&P and ‘BBB- (Stable)’ by Fitch, same as the Government of India.