FTSE Russell, the global index provider, today announced the signing of the letter of intent between FTSE TMX Global Debt Capital Markets and State Bank of India, to develop in partnership, a new index, FTSE-SBI India Bond Index, tracking Indian fixed income securities.
SBI Mutual Fund, the asset management subsidiary of State Bank of India, India’s largest bank, intends to use the new index as the basis for a new investment product.
Advised by SBI Capital Markets (SBICAP), the letter of intent, signed in the same week of the visit of India Prime Minister, Narendra Modi to the UK, is a first for FTSE Russell and provides it, and parent company London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), with an important platform in India’s burgeoning domestic financial market.
Arundhati Bhattacharya, chairman, State Bank of India said, ''We are delighted to be partnering with London Stock Exchange Group to create the FTSE SBI bond indices for India. Despite investor appetite to access India’s ongoing growth story, at present Indian issuers’ bonds do not have a credible global benchmark for passive investment funds that captures the Indian growth story."
