Mumbai : State Bank of India and The Export Import Bank of China signed a Framework Agreement for a Line of Credit of USD 1.8 billion to be offered by The Exim Bank of China. The Line of Credit will be utilized for projects involving imports of Chinese raw materials, energy, equipment, mechanical and electronic products, complete sets of equipment, high and new tech products, energy projects, infrastructure and construction projects and any other projects mutually agreed by the two banks.
Dr P.K Agrawal, General Manager (International Banking Group) of State Bank of India and Mr Mei Jianping, Dy. General Manager, Corporate Banking Department of The Exim Bank of China signed the Agreement today in New Delhi. Mr V.G. Kannan, M.D. & G.E. (A & S) and Mr Rajneesh Kumar, MD & CEO, SBI Capital Markets Ltd graced this occasion with their presence.

This Agreement signifies the deepening trade and economic relationship between the two countries. The agreement between State Bank of India, the largest commercial bank of India, and The Exim Bank of China, the largest development bank of China, which focuses on the promotion of foreign trade, is one of the largest between the two countries and marks a milestone in their relationship. The line of credit will underpin the burgeoning trade between India and China by supporting Indian importers of Chinese goods and services. The agreement is expected to be an important building block in the push to the infrastructure sector initiated by the new government which is expected to require an investment of over a trillion dollars over the next few years.

State Bank of India as the largest infrastructure financier in India is at the forefront of the coming surge of financing to the infrastructure sector. China, the largest global supplier of infrastructure products and services, will have a key role in the development of India’s infrastructure. The agreement between State Bank of India and The Exim Bank of China is ideally placed and timed to give a boost to Indian infrastructure projects. New projects, which are now in the initial stage of planning now, would have access to this corpus of foreign currency funding in addition to State Bank’s unmatched corpus of Indian funds and project finance expertise. The deepening relationship between the two banks also augers well for further co-operation between the two countries and the two banks in the infrastructure space.