Exim
banks of India and Hungary sign credit pact
4
November 2006
Mumbai:
Exim Bank of India has signed a $10 million reciprocal
line of credit with the Exim Bank of Hungary to support
bilateral trade.
Exim
Bank of India executive director S R Rao signed the
agreement with Exim Bank of Hungary chief executive
Zoltan Bodnar in New Delhi during the visit of Hungary's
minister of foreign affairs Kinga Goncz, Exim Bank said
in a release.
The reciprocal line of credit arrangement is aimed at
catalysing bilateral trade that requires medium term
credit support, the release said.
Exim Bank of India is also planning to raise $750 million
in the next six months as businesses, including Tata
group expand overseas and increase trade.
The state-owned financier will obtain loans from global
banks and sell euro- and yen-denominated bonds in maturities
of one to seven years, Subramanian had said in an interview
reported early last month.
Exim Bank needs to keep pace with a doubling in India's
merchandise trade in three years to $240 billion and
rising cross-border investments. Prime minister Manmohan
Singh had said India is the third-largest investor in
the UK and urged companies to set up in Asia's fourth-biggest
economy.
Exim Bank is assisting companies in the automobiles,
drugs and textiles businesses to make acquisitions abroad,
Subramanian said. 
It
helped finance Tata Coffee Ltd., Asia's largest coffee
plantation company, to buy US-based coffee retailer
Eight O'Clock Coffee in June.
``Exim Bank financed 21 acquisitions last year and this
year we are looking to do more,'' he said.
