India's EXIM Bank plans $300 million dollar bond sale under RBI hedging facility

MUMBAI: The Export-Import Bank of India plans to raise $300 million through dollar bonds, two bankers said on Monday, becoming the latest borrower to tap the central bank’s subsidised hedging facility aimed at encouraging overseas fundraising.

The state-run export finance institution will issue three-year floating-rate bonds priced at 90 basis points over the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), according to the bankers, who requested anonymity as they’re not authorised to speak to the media.

EXIM Bank declined to comment on the development.

In June, Reuters reported that three other central bank-regulated development finance institutions were looking to raise around $500 million each through external commercial borrowings.

EXIM Bank joins state-run Power Finance Corp and private lenders HDFC Bank and Axis Bank, which have raised a total of about $2.15 billion through dollar bonds since the Reserve Bank of India announced the facility.

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Last month, the RBI saidit would permit banks and state-run companies to access a subsidised hedging facility for external commercial borrowings, helping them cut the cost of managing currency risks as it sought to shore up the rupee.

“I would expect around $5 billion of bond issuances to come till the end of September, with banks and state-run companies frontloading their foreign currency borrowings,” said Maksim Zenkov, deputy head of emerging markets fixed income at Cbonds, a financial data aggregator.

This will be EXIM Bank’s second dollar debt issuance in 2026. In January, it raised $500 million each through 10-year bonds at a 5% coupon, or a spread of 85 bps over U.S. Treasuries, and 30-year bonds at 5.75%, or a spread of 95 bps over Treasuries.