New bank joins US Ex-Im’s infrastructure facility

US Ex-Im has accepted ICICI Bank to join its Indian infrastructure facility, set up in April to support US exports for Indian projects.

The facility was originally established with eight Indian banks and a total of US$2.2bn-worth of financing. The programme intends to speed up the processing of US Ex-Im-backed medium and long-term financing for Indian buyers of US exports. Each of the Indian institutions has an underlying pre-approved credit line of US$50 to US$250mn. One of the lenders, Power Finance Co has a pre-approved line of US$800mn.

ICICI has now also been granted a special delegated authority level of U$S250mn, which has increased the total support available under the scheme to US$2.45bn.

The financing being provided under the facility is denominated in US dollars, and eligible projects include power and renewable energy generation, oil and gas development, small aircraft, and healthcare.

"We are pleased to expand our Indian infrastructure facility with ICICI Bank, a financial institution that is experienced in US Ex-Im Bank transactions. We look forward to supporting more US exports with ICICI Bank under the facility," comments US Ex-Im Bank chairman and president James Lambright.

The eight Indian banks already approved under the scheme are Power Finance Co (PFC), Infrastructure Development Finance Corp (IDFC), and Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), India Infrastructure Finance Co (IIFCL), State Bank of India (SBI), Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL & FS), India Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) and Punjab National Bank.

India's Ministry of Finance has estimated that over US$500bn-worth of investment will be needed to finance development of India's infrastructure.