Exim Bank extends $100 mn loan to Mauritius on behalf of India

The loan is for for defense-related procurements

Exim Bank on Wednesday said it has extended USD 100 million loan to Mauritius on behalf of India for defense-related procurements.

Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank), on behalf of the Government of India, has extended a line of credit (LOC) of USD 100 million to the Government of the Republic of Mauritius for the purpose of financing procurement of defense items from India, Exim Bank said in a release.

The LOC agreement for this was signed on February 19, 2021, through exchange between Renganaden Padayachy, Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development, Mauritius and Gaurav Singh Bhandari, Chief General Manager, Exim Bank.

With the signing of this loan agreement, Exim Bank till date has extended six LOCs to Mauritius, on behalf of India, taking the total value of LOCs extended to USD 764.80 million.

The soft loans to Mauritius cover projects in sectors including defense, connectivity and infrastructure sectors such as Metro Express Limited, Social Housing, among others, Exim Bank said.

Also, with this loan pact, Exim Bank has now in place 269 LOCs, covering 62 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), with credit commitments of around USD 26.64 billion, available for financing exports from India.

Besides promoting India's exports, Exim Bank's LOCs enable demonstration of Indian expertise and project execution capabilities in emerging markets, said the lender.