Exim Bank bullish on Africa, some south Asian countries

Exim Bank of India, which provides long-term trade finance, said it was bullish on the African continent and some south Asian countries.

Managing director of Exim Bank David Rasquinha said the financing entity was engaged in some infrastructure projects in Africa where the quantum of finance extended was close to USD 2.5 billion in aggregate.

"Africa is one of the fastest growing parts of the world and the need for developing infrastructure like railways was immense," he told reporters on the sidelines of a BCCI event here on Monday.

Exim Bank said a railway project in Ghana was already underway where it was having an exposure, adding that it was also financing companies doing trade with Africa.

Besides railways, he said, the bank was bullish on renewable energy, power transmission, agriculture, textiles and sugar.

Regarding south Asia, he said countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal were of interest to the bank as well as Myanmar.

Rasquinha said out 54-odd countries in Africa, the bank was doing business in 45 of them.

"We are also reaching out to the remaining countries", he added.

During fiscal 2018-19, the bank's balance sheet was expected to cross Rs one lakh crore, he said, adding that the likely growth during the financial year would be 10 per cent over the previous.