MUMBAI: Bank of India plans to raise about $1 billion through overseas borrowings by December to benefit from a subsidy offered by the central bank toward the cost of hedging foreign-currency funding, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The state-owned lender is looking to raise funds through both a three- and five-year paper, the people said. The $1 billion target may change, depending on pricing moves in the future, they added.
Bank of India mobilized $2.2 billion through the Reserve Bank of India's foreign currency non-resident bank, or FCNR(B), deposit window, the two people said. A large share of the FCNR(B) deposits came from Singapore, Hong Kong and through the GIFT City route.
“The final deposit number is close to twice what the lender had originally set out to raise,” one person said.
It expects to finish deploying the money raised through the FCNR(B) scheme by the third quarter of FY27.
However, the FCNR(B) deposit scheme, under which the RBI bears the full hedging cost, was closed on 31 August, a month before its original deadline, ending the supply of cheap dollars. The external commerical borrowing (ECB) and the overseas foreign currency borrowing (OFCB) concessional window remains open till 31 December.
Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Axis Bank, RBL Bank, Federal Bank, Canara Bank, UCO Bank, Bank of Maharashtra and IndusInd Bank are in early talks to raise funds through the central bank’s OFCB facility, Mint reported on 9 September.
Swap facility
Alongside its FCNR(B) announcement on 5 June, the RBI introduced a swap facility for ECBs raised by public-sector companies and OFCBs raised by banks. Under the facility, banks can sell US dollars to the central bank and agree to buy them back at the end of the swap period.
Unlike the FCNR(B) scheme, though, the ECB/OFCB facility provides a 1.5% annual subsidy toward the cost of hedging foreign-currency funding, which is generally about 3.5% to 4%. This gives banks a benefit of 200 to 250 basis points on incremental OFCB borrowings.
Banks mobilized a record $127.22 billion through FCNR(B) deposits. Together with $5.26 billion raised through OFCBs and $3.89 billion through ECBs, the facility attracted $136.37 billion of inflows.