Archives: India

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Utkarsh Small Finance Bank’s IPO: what it means and why it matters

By Nathan Menon and Priyanka Rajaram on Posted in India
The Bank – who they are     Initially operating from the small town of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, India, Utkarsh was established in 2009 as a Micro Finance Institution. Over the years it has evolved into a Small Finance Bank with the objective of creating “umeed” (hope) amongst the unbanked population by providing micro, small and … Continue Reading

India raises $2bn in first Sovereign Green Bond issuances

By Nathan Menon and Farkhanda Ali on Posted in India
On January 25, 2023, the Government of India launched and sold its first-ever Sovereign Green Bond issuance for Rs80 billion ($1 billion); with half in five-year bonds at a coupon rate of 7.1% and the other half in 10-year bonds at a coupon rate of 7.29%. The auction for the second issuance took place on … Continue Reading

India’s ECB market: long term downturn or short term blip?

By Nathan Menon and Daniel Sahraee on Posted in India
Read time: 4 minutes External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs) are commercial loans advanced to Indian borrowers in a foreign currency by non-India resident Lenders. Following the gradual relaxation of India’s tight external debt controls in the mid-1990s and early 2000s, ECBs have emerged as an important source of funding for eligible Indian entities, particularly in the … Continue Reading

India’s bad debt – an international perspective

By Nathan Menon, Rachel Tucker and Sarah Caldwell on Posted in India
In January 2022, Dinesh Khara, the Chairman of the State Bank of India announced that the National Asset Reconstruction Company (“NARCL”) has received all approvals to commence its operations. NARCL is what is colloquially known as a bad bank, formed to acquire illiquid and risky assets, such as bad debt, from distressed financial institutions. NARCL … Continue Reading

India – Modi-fied for green energy? Some reflections following COP26

By Nathan Menon, Sarah Caldwell and Rachel Tucker on Posted in India
During this year’s COP26 summit in Glasgow, the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, pledged that India would cut its emissions to net zero by 2070, and that by 2030 it would: increase non-fossil fuel energy capacity to 500 GW; meet 50 per cent of energy requirement from renewable energy; reduce total projected carbon emissions by … Continue Reading

India’s sovereign credit rating – stick or twist?

By Nathan Menon and Mira Midelieva on Posted in India, Rating Agencies
Read time: 3 minutes 15 seconds In June 2020, three of the large global rating agencies – Moody’s Investors Service (“Moody’s”), Fitch Ratings (“Fitch”) and S&P Global Ratings (“S&P”) reviewed India’s sovereign credit rating. Interestingly, the agencies diverged in their approaches – Moody’s, which had previously rated India a notch higher than S&P and Fitch, … Continue Reading
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