MUMBAI: The country’s top three lenders signed agreements with Chinese banks and financial institutions as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping vowed to boost economic ties between the world’s two most populous countries.
The State Bank of India signed an agreement with the Export-Import Bank of China under which the Chinese lender has opened $1.8 billion line of credit to help India import Chinese raw materials, energy equipment, mechanical and electronic products and infrastructure and construction projects, among other projects that may be mutually agreed to be the two banks.
Likewise, ICICI Bank signed an agreement with Export-Import Bank of China under which the Chinese bank will provide short-term and long term credit lines to the tune of up to $1 billion.
The line of credit can also be utilised to support the cooperation between Chinese and Indian enterprises in natural resources, energy exploration and construction contracting projects.
An agreement between Axis Bank and China Development Bank (CDB) will enable the Indian bank to support its corporate clients by funding them at competitive pricing and also enable the bank to work with Chinese companies in their local requirements in India.
ICICI Bank had in 2010 signed an agreement for $500 million with China Development Bank to help Chinese supply equipment to projects in India.
The two countries aim to grow their trade to $100 billion by 2015, from the 2013 level of $66 billion. In the first quarter to June, trade was pegged at $22.4 billion.
The trade balance is heavily in favour of China as the larger exporter. China is India’s biggest trading partner.
During the current visit of President Xi, the two countries signed agreements on various sectors. Chinese companies plan to invest $20 billion in India over the next five years, it was pointed out.
