Reports suggested that Housing Development Finance Corp (HDFC), India’s largest mortgage lender, is likely to raise their first dollar bond. Keki Mistry, VC & CEO of HDFC, spoke to CNBC-TV18 about the development.

"We got the approval from the Reserve Bank of India sometime back to look at the external commercial borrowing (ECB). Therefore, we are looking at various ways in which the money can be raised," Mistry said on Friday.

“We have still not zeroed down on any particular method,” he added.

When asked whether the bond is due in 2018, Mistry said, “A part of it may happen in 2018 and a part of it may happen in 2019; when I say 2018-2019, I mean calendar year.”

Talking about the cost difference between a dollar bond issuance and a masala bond, he said, “These are things which have to be evaluated. My sense is that dollar bond would be cheaper even when fully swapped into rupees, but it depends on how we swap the money whether we do a floating rate hedge or fixed rate hedge.”

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