Now, Bloomberg Index looking to include Indian sovereign bonds

Mumbai: Bloomberg Index Services (BISL) will be holding advisory meetings for the Bloomberg Fixed Income Index in Asia, Europe, and the US this month and the next to discuss, besides other items, the eligibility of Indian sovereign bonds for inclusion in the benchmark being referenced by investors globally to buy bonds.

The move comes barely two weeks after JP Morgan included India in its Global Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) global index suite starting June 2024.

"BISL will be conducting the Bloomberg Fixed Income Index Advisory Councils (the "IACs"), in the US, Europe and Asia in October and November. These IACs are conducted annually by BISL to obtain feedback from a number of index users on a range of topics related to the Bloomberg Fixed Income Indices," read an official Bloomberg document, dated October 2, provided to ET by a banking source.

For the Indian bond market, discussions would be held on the "potential eligibility of India Treasury Fully Accessible Route (FAR) bond market for the Global Aggregate and the Emerging Market Local Currency Indices," the document read.

ET had reported last month that major global investors had requested the Bloomberg index to advance scheduled reviews for index eligibility to early October, potentially to speed up discussions surrounding India's inclusion.

The BISL will consider the feedback received and will decide unilaterally, whether, and how, to respond to any feedback, comment, or recommendation that results from the review process, the document read.

Investors had earlier largely expected a possible announcement on India being included in a Bloomberg index in the first quarter of 2024.

The FAR category of government securities, which was introduced by the Reserve Bank of India in 2020, provides for foreign investment without limits. At present, there are 23 securities in the FAR category. The FAR securities are also those that shall be included in JP Morgan's index.

If included in the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Index, India could see overseas investment flows of around $20-25 billion, assuming a weightage of 0.6-0.8%, sources said. Analysts predict the foreign investment flows from JP Morgan Index inclusion at around $20-25 billion.

Providing an update on a data freeze ahead of the Bloomberg Fixed Income month-end rebalances, the document listed out several points including discussions on early close times for Bloomberg US Fixed Income indices and talks on streamlining of approaches to handling scenarios.