With closer economic and trade relationship between China and India and the advancing of the “One Belt and One Road” strategy, ICBC Mumbai Branch has fully strengthened its cooperation with Chinese enterprises operating in India and its support for local infrastructure construction in sectors of telecommunication, transportation and power and even heavy machinery and automotive, providing strong support to the development of Chinese enterprises in India. 

On September 15, 2011, ICBC established a branch in Mumbai, the country’s economic and financial center. So far it is still the only mainland Chinese bank operating in the Indian market. Over the past three years, ICBC Mumbai Branch has leveraged group-wide resources to proactively explore local opportunities for Chinese enterprises. In the telecommunication sector, ICBC helped Chinese enterprises such as Huawei and ZTE to obtain equipment and operation & maintenance contracts through arrangement of syndicated loans for Indian mobile operators. The Bank has so far completed the syndication of loans worth USD 925 million in the Indian telecommunication industry. In the power sector, ICBC partnered with Chinese power equipment suppliers to complete USD 600 million project financing for local power plants. In the aviation sector, ICBC Leasing, a subsidiary of ICBC, entered into a MOU with India’s IndiGo airline for the financial leasing of 30 airplanes with a total value of USD 2.6 billion. In the chemical, automotive and construction engineering sectors, ICBC helped Chinese enterprises obtain fast financing in India via the efficient off-shore loans against domestic guarantee, thus solving the issue of financing difficulty and high financing cost for the growth of Chinese enterprises in India. In addition, given most Chinese enterprises in India are construction contractors, ICBC Mumbai Branch became the first Chinese bank to reissue letter of guarantee in India by summarizing business demand from extensive market research to collect feedbacks from Chinese enterprises. As of now, the Bank has issued a total of USD 220 million in letter of guarantee to provide strong guarantee support for Chinese enterprises to effectively participate in local project tendering.

With the deepening growth of Chinese enterprises in the Indian market, ICBC Mumbai Branch has seen significant progress in business operation. Since established in 2011, it has posted positive profit each year with zero non-performing loan. In addition, the branch is highly recognized by the local regulators, peers and customers for its operational management and granted the tier-1 clearing qualification by the local central bank. Its short-term financing instrument is awarded the top rank rating in the local banking sector. It has also established correspondent bank relationship with 12 local banks.