India’s state-owned Exim Bank tables $5b credit for Africa

India’s state-owned Export-Import (Exim) Bank says it will soon issue a fresh line of credit to Africa in the next three years, the Business Standard news publication reports October 13, 2011.

“At present, our exposure to Africa, in terms of sanctioned credit line, is more than $3.5 billion (which has not yet been fully disbursed), with the outstanding being around $2.75 billion. With the additional line to be issued in three years, we expect the total book size of Exim Bank on Africa to double in the next five years,” the bank’s Managing Director T. C. A. Ranganathan told the Indian-English language news service on the sidelines of the inaugural day of the India-Africa Business Partnership Summit held in Hyderabad, India.

The credit is to help Indian entrepreneurs in Africa to bid for projects on the continent, according to the publication.

“There is a vast growth that is taking place there. The continent is growing rapidly and holds huge potential. Therefore, Indian entrepreneurs should explore that continent,” it quoted Ranganathan as saying.

The Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh earlier May 24, 2011 also announced a fresh $5 billion line of credit to Africa over the next three years to meet its development goals.

Dr Singh made this known when he was addressing the plenary session of the Second India-Africa Summit at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Bilateral trade between India and Africa has doubled from $25 billion in 2006-07 to $53.3 billion in 2010-11 due to the rise in both exports to and imports from the African region, according to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

Reliance Industries, Bank of Baroda, Tata Africa Holding, Bharti Airtel, are some of the already established Indian firms in Africa.

By Ekow Quandzie