Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Masatsugu Asakawa on Tuesday said that the bank will consider the option of raising funds by issuing rupee denominated bonds. Raising funds in local currency minimizes fluctuations in foreign exchange rates. Asakawa said, “We are willing to promote financing in local currency to avoid the risk of foreign exchange fluctuations.” He said the decision would depend on the market situation, demand and supply. It is noteworthy that in the past, the multilateral funding agency ADB has raised funds by issuing bonds in rupees for financing projects in the country. The Asian Development Bank had listed the 10-year Masala Bonds i.e. rupee denominated bonds worth Rs 300 crore on the global securities market platform of India INX in January 2021. India INX is the international securities market. It is located in the International Financial Services Center – GIFT City in Gujarat. Talking to reporters at the beginning of the 56th Annual General Meeting of the Governing Board of ADB, Asakawa said that $ 25 billion investment in India in the next five years is yet to be approved by the Governing Board. No decision has been taken in this regard yet. “This is my goal… Prime Minister Narendra Modi has consistently stressed the importance of developing infrastructure and renewable energy during bilateral meetings,” he said. Asakawa told Prime Minister Modi during his visit to India in February that ADB aims to provide $20 to $25 billion in resources over the next five years to meet the country’s ambition of faster, inclusive and green growth. He said that India is the fastest growing large economy. India’s economic growth will be beneficial for the entire South Asian region. This includes countries like Sri Lanka and Pakistan, which are facing food and energy crisis. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)}; if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′; n.queue=();t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)(0); s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’, ‘ fbq(‘init’, ‘550264998751686’); fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);