ADB plans to issue rupee-linked offshore bonds

Institution cautions that the bond will be little expensive because of hedging costs involved in issuing debt in rupee

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is planning to raise funds abroad by issuing rupee-denominated bonds. This is the first time the multilateral institution is considering rupee-linked offshore bonds to help finance projects in India.

“Rupee bonds have been issued in the past. Earlier, we did an onshore bond. Now, we are looking at offshore bonds,” said Narhari Rao, the officer in-charge of ADB India, resident mission, on Wednesday.

In an interaction with reporters on ADB’s Country Partnership Strategy for India for 2013-17, Rao said the funds that would be raised were expected to go to for infrastructure financing. He cautioned the bond would be little expensive because of the hedging costs involved in issuing the debt in rupee.  

In 2004, ADB had raised funds by floating Rs 400 crore of onshore rupee-denominated bonds. ADB started considering rupee-linked offshore bonds after the Indian government made a proposal in order to boost dollar inflows in the wake of a weak domestic currency and pressure on the current account deficit (CAD), which swelled to 4.8 per cent of the GDP in 2012-13 — the highest in over a decade. This year, the CAD is expected to be contained below three per cent as government compressed gold imports.   

On the quantum of the proposed bond, Rao said it was at a very early stage and the funding agency was in discussions with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regarding the same.

ADB will be the second multilateral agency to issue such a bond. Earlier this month, International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, had raised Rs 1,000 crore ($160 million) in the US from its first offshore sale of rupee bonds. It plans to raise $1 billion through these bonds. The three-year bond was offered and settled in dollar. IFC will convert the proceeds into rupees in the domestic spot exchange market and use the money to finance private sector investments in the country.

The funds raised through the bond would be part of the Manila-based agency’s annual assistance of $2 billion to India. The agency had recently agreed to provide this loan annually for five years till 2017 to create jobs, enhance investment reforms, and improve infrastructure in India. This supports the country’s 12th Five-Year Plan.

India is ADB's largest single country borrower. It is working on various projects in 22 states of the country.