Exim Bank looking to raise Rs13,000 crore in FY16

Fresh with Rs1,300 crore Budgetary allocation, Exim Bank is now looking to enter the capital markets next fiscal to raise an additional Rs13,000 crore to finance business expansion.

"The government has earmarked Rs1,300 crore for Exim Bank in the budget. We can leverage and raise capital up to 10 times (Rs13,000 crore)," deputy managing director of Exim Bank David Rasquinha said.

Rasquinha said the bank was "soundly capitalised" with a capital adequacy ratio of around 15 per cent.

In his Budget for the 2015-16 fiscal presented last week, finance minister Arun Jaitley had earmarked a sum of Rs1,300 crore for the Exim Bank.

"Last year also we received Rs1,300 crore as capital. I want to emphasise this capital is for the bank to grow. It is not because we are not meeting capital adequacy ratio. If the government gives Rs1,300 crore, we can borrow up to 10 times of that number," he added.

Further, he said, "From the government's allocation of Rs1,300 crore, we may raise up to Rs13,000 crore using various instruments. Last year the bank raised about $1.3 billion from various markets."

During the current financial year, he said, the cumulative exposure of the bank was expected to grow around Rs12,000 crore compared to last financial year's Rs9,000 crore.

"Last year, the growth was about Rs9,000 crore. From Rs9,000 crore it may go up to Rs12,000 crore this fiscal. That is the range," he said, adding that Sri Lanka was the largest single exposure for the bank in receiving disbursements of about $2.50 billion.

"Opportunities in SAARC countries are huge. After Sri Lanka, it was Nepal which had received total outstanding of $ 1.4 billion from the bank".

The bank's major business contributors was southern African countries contributing 40 per cent followed by SAARC countries about 30 per cent while remaining across various geographies.