Axis Bank acting through its GIFT IFSC branch rings the bell with listing of USD 600 Mn maiden AT1 sustainable bond issuance by an Indian Bank in IFSC

Axis Bank through its IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) in GIFT IFSC raised USD 600 Million in AT 1 sustainable bonds under its USD 5-billion global medium-term note programme. The dollar-denominated, Basel III-compliant AT1 notes were competitively priced at 4.10 per cent and evinced interest from investors across diverse geographies. 

Commenting on the success, Mr. V. Balasubramaniam, MD & CEO, INDIA INX said, “We are delighted to list Axis Bank’s maiden AT1 Bond sustainable bond of USD 600 Mn on our GSM Green platform, our dedicated platform for listing of ESG compliant issuances. My heartiest congratulations to the Axis Bank’s team for this achievement and we look forward to a healthy pipeline of offshore bond issuances listing on our platform making Indian IFSC the destination of choice for listing overseas issuances. Till date, Global Securities Market has established USD 55+ billion in MTN programmes and more than USD 31+ billion of bonds issued.” 

Shri Tapan Ray, MD & Group CEO, GIFT City said: “GIFT IFSC is now emerging as a destination for raising capital and debt by Indian issuers. Axis Bank’s Sustainable Bond issuance through GIFT City is a welcome-step. The ecosystem, ease of doing business and cost-efficiency make GIFT IFSC a preferred platform for raising and listing of debt. Our aim is to make GIFT City a Green & Sustainable Finance hub, we congratulate Axis Bank and IFSC Exchanges for their commitment towards achieving this goal." 

India INX introduced the Global Securities Market (GSM) platform, which is a pioneering concept in India, offering issuers an efficient and transparent method to raise capital. The platform offers a debt listing framework at par with other global listing venues such as London, Luxembourg, Singapore etc. Issuer mix is a healthy one with Banks (SBI, EXIM Bank, HDFC Bank), supranational (Asian Development Bank), State owned finance corporations (NTPC, PFC, REC) and several others (Adani Green, Adani Port). Further India INX is also a market leader in the derivatives segment and for August 2021, the market share of India INX stood at 83%.

About India INX

India INX, BSE’s international arm, commenced its trading activities on January 16, 2017 and is India’s first International Exchange set up at GIFT IFSC. It is one of the world’s most advanced technology platforms with a response time of 4 micro seconds and allows trading for 22 hours a day, in a range of financial market products such as index and single stock derivatives, commodity derivatives, currency derivatives and debt securities, to allow international investors to trade from anywhere across the globe. The Exchange, provides a state of the art electronic platform to facilitate trading, clearing and settlement of the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes, including securities, equity derivatives, precious metals, base metals, energy and bonds. The average daily turnover at the exchange for the month of August ’21 was USD 14.76 billion, with 83 % market share among the exchanges at IFSC. The Exchange also has tier-III equivalent data centre colocation facility for its Members. The platform offers a debt listing framework at par with other global listing venues such as London, Luxembourg, Singapore etc. The Exchange provides competitive advantage in terms of tax structure and supportive regulatory framework that is comparable with any other global financial centre. These include waiver of several taxes like securities transaction tax, commodities transaction tax, dividend distribution tax, capital gains tax, GST etc. Further, as an entity set up at IFSC, additional tax waivers are applicable viz. graded income tax holiday for ten years out of fifteen years, one-time subsidy on IT capex spend, no stamp duty etc.