Japan ready to back bond issue by India

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Mumbai, New Delhi: Japan is willing to guarantee India a sovereign bond issue of up to 250 billion yen in the Tokyo market. “We have held discussions this week about the possibility of guaranteeing such a bond issue with senior officials from the Indian ministry of finance,” Hiroshi Watanabe, president & CEO, Japan Bank for International Corporation (JBIC), said on Thursday.

Watanbe was talking on the sidelines of the fourth global meeting of the Emerging Markets Forum, organised by IDFC and supported by FE and the Bombay Chamber of Commerce. India already has a $3-billion currency swap agreement with Japan. However, this has not been utilised so far.

The Japanese offer is part of the 500-billion yen (about $5.24 billion or Rs 25,200 crore) funding programme it has promised the Asian economies to tide over the current financial crisis. Watanabe said Indonesia and the Philippines have agreed to issue sovereign papers worth 250 billion yen in the Tokyo market. India, too, can issue bonds in Japan through RBI or other government-owned vehicles like SBI or the India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd.

“In the case of India, there could be some kind of deviation, as the central bank or any other government agency might also issue the papers. In case it is a government agency, we will need some kind of guarantee from the government. So, all these need to be discussed,” Watanabe said.

In the early 1990s, SBI along with other banks had made two overseas bond issues when the country faced a forex crisis.

“We first discussed this issue with Mr Chawla (finance secretary Ashok Chawla) in May, so we are again discussing that,” Watanabe said, adding, “I hope to have two more countries, so the entire amount (the remaining 250 Japanese yen) may not go to India.”

Watanabe said the volatility in the Japanese currency could make the bond issue a bit risky. The Japanese market is ready for shorter maturity papers carrying a coupon rate of more than 1.5%. “Yes, it is of 2-3 (years) maturity. Since the market is still not very confident, the countries don’t want to issue bonds of say 7-8 years maturity,” he said. He said JBIC fully guarantees the payment of principle but the interest component is covered only partially.