BRICS development bank plans to fund $3bn worth of projects in 2017

NEW DELHI: The New Development Bank set up by the BRICS group of emerging economies plans to fund 15 infrastructure projects in member countries worth upto $3 billion this year, the bank's president, K.V. Kamath, said on Thursday.

The bank also plans to raise $300 million to $500 million in rupee-denominated bonds, called "masala" bonds, in the second half of the year, Kamath told Reuters in an interview in New Delhi.

The BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -agreed to create the New Development Bank in July 2014 with an initial authorised capital of $100 billion. The lender was officially launched a year later.

Last year, the bank, headquartered in Shanghai, funded 7 projects worth nearly $1.5 billion, said Kamath, who ran India's ICICI Bank from 1996 until 2009.