Korea Eximbank will provide a $1-billion line of credit to ICICI Bank, the country’s largest private sector lender, to help boost financial co-operation between the two countries.
Under this arrangement, the support from Korea Eximbank will be in the nature of untied loans. An agreement to this effect was signed here on Wednesday, Tae-hyung Lee, Director-General, Korea Eximbank, told Business Line here.
This is not the first time that Korea Eximbank has signed a line of credit with ICICI Bank. In 2007, Korea Eximbank had provided a $200-million line of credit to ICICI Bank.
Korea Eximbank will on Thursday sign an agreement with State Bank of India for a $200-million line of credit.
However, in the case of SBI, Korea Eximbank’s support will be in the nature of tied loans, Lee said.
It would be a two-step loan and the loan funds are expected to be utilised to support Korean companies having a presence in India.
Park’s visit
Korea Eximbank’s move to sign two separate line of credit agreements came during the occasion of South Korean President Park Geun-Hye’s state visit to India.
Bilateral trade has been on an upswing. From a level of $ 2.2 billion in 2002-03, the bilateral trade has surged to $17.3 billion in 2012-13.
Trading volumes have surged post the implementation of the comprehensive economic partnership agreement in January 2010.