By Swati Bhat
MUMBAI (Reuters) – Bloomberg Index Services said on Tuesday it would include in its Emerging Market Local Currency Index from Jan. 31 next year 34 Indian government bonds eligible for investment via the country’s fully accessible route (FAR).
“The inclusion of these bonds will be phased in over a 10-month period starting on the rebalance date of January 31, 2025,” it said in a statement.
“The weight of India FAR bonds will be increased in increments of 10% of their full market value every month over the 10-month period ending in October 2025.”
The Indian government began discussing inclusion of its securities in global indexes as far back as 2013, but the move was held back by its curbs on foreign investments in domestic debt.
In April 2020, the Reserve Bank of India introduced a clutch of securities free of foreign investment curbs under a “fully accessible route” (FAR), that made them eligible for inclusion in global indexes.
JPMorgan was the first to announce India’s inclusion in its widely tracked emerging market debt index in September last year, setting the stage for billions of dollars of inflows into the world’s fifth-largest economy.
Tuesday’s inclusion by Bloomberg Index Services Ltd. was based on feedback invited in January on its plan to include eligible Indian bonds in the EM local currency indexes phases over five months starting from September 2024, the company said.
By January 31 this year, 34 Indian FAR bonds with a total market value of $448 billion were eligible for the EM Local Currency Government Index, and the other indexes, it added.
Once completely phased into the Bloomberg Emerging Market 10% Country Capped Index, India FAR bonds will be fully capped at 10% weight within the index.
At that point, the Indian rupee is expected to become the third largest currency component of the Bloomberg Emerging Market Local Currency Index, following the Chinese renminbi and the South Korean won, it added.
(Reporting by Swati Bhat; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Clarence Fernandez)
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