ICICI Bank raises Rs 3,000 crore through 10-year infra bonds

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

ICICI Bank has raised Rs 3,000 crore through a 10-year bond sale on Friday, with the private sector lender garnering long-term funds for infrastructure financing at a time when credit growth is much higher than deposit growth, exerting pressure on banks to mobilise funds.

The coupon rate – or interest rate paid to investors – for ICICI Bank’s bonds was set at 7.53%, debt capital market executives said.

Funds raised through infrastructure bonds, which have a minimum maturity of 7 years, are exempted from the maintenance of Statutory Liquidity Ratio and Cash Reserve Ratio, which are reserves that banks must maintain from their deposit base.

Banks have recently stepped up activity when it comes to infrastructure bond issuances, with State Bank of India raising Rs 10,000 crore through 15-year securities earlier this week.

As on June 14, bank credit growth was at 15.6% year-on-year, while deposit growth was at 12.1% over the same period, latest Reserve Bank of India data showed. The data excludes the impact of the merger between HDFC and HDFC Bank.