(Bloomberg) -- Two Indian issuers deferred local bond sales on Wednesday as borrowing costs surged, after tensions between India and Pakistan escalated in one of the most serious confrontations in decades.
State-run Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency withdrew plans to raise as much as 10 billion rupees ($140 million) from 10-year bonds because rates were higher than expected. State-controlled refiner Bharat Petroleum called off a plan to sell at least 5 billion rupees of five-year securities, saying the market was choppy and not conducive to fund-raising at the moment.
India’s credit markets could do without the added strains just now. Shock defaults by shadow lender Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd. and scrutiny of non-bank financing firms have constrained access to funds, frustrating the government’s efforts to deepen the local debt market.
Average yields on top-rated three-year Indian rupee corporate notes issued by state companies jumped 41 basis points to 8.55 percent Wednesday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s the sharpest increase since July 2013.
The tensions could also test appetite for new new dollar bond sales planned by Indian firms that had enjoyed a revival at the start of 2019.
Pakistan said on Wednesday that its fighter jets shot down two Indian aircraft, in a significant escalation of tensions a day after India said its Air Force had bombed a terrorist training camp inside Pakistan.
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