ICICI Bank, India’s second-largest private lender, is tapping the U.S. dollar-denominated bond market for the fourth time in a month, under ​the central bank’s discounted window, which will push overall issuances by ‌banks above $10 billion.

ICICI Bank is planning to raise $1 billion through private placement of five-year bonds at a coupon of 5.41%, two merchant bankers said, requesting anonymity as they are not ​authorised to speak to media.

The private bank did not reply to ​Reuters’ query seeking comment.

The latest placement will take the aggregate funds ⁠raised by ICICI Bank under the Reserve Bank of India’s discounted window to $3.05 ​billion, leading the charts.

It has also helped ICICI Bank overtake HDFC, the country’s ​largest private-sector bank, which has raised an aggregate of $2.50 billion so far.

Towards the end of July, ICICI Bank raised $1 billion through a five-year paper at 100 basis points over Treasuries, ​with a 5.46% coupon, and that was its first issuance in nearly nine ​years.

In early August, the lender reissued these papers at a yield of 5.3520%, raising $300 million, ‌while ⁠last week it raised $750 million through five-year papers at a spread of 105 basis points over Treasuries at a 5.4170% coupon.

The sale further extends a wave of offshore fundraising by Indian lenders after the central bank opened a concessional swap ​window for foreign-currency ​deposits, with total ⁠proceeds from bond issuances at $10.3 billion.

Banks have been able to raise cheaper funds since the window was announced on June ​5, giving them rupee liquidity that can support lending ​and investment ⁠and help margins.

In the last few days, banks have been scrambling to complete their dollar issuances, with most funds being used to provide leverage to customers who will ⁠be ​depositing these funds under the discounted dollar deposit ​scheme.

Source: Reuters