The New Development Bank (NDB) on Tuesday said it is eyeing a loan book of about $40 billion by 2027 and is aiming to tap into the masala bond market by 2019.

The bank is three and half years old and already has approved projects that cumulatively amount to $7.9 billion, which is a significant achievement, said Leslie Maasdorp, CFO and vice president, NDB

The NDB or BRICS Bank was set up by the five BRICS (Brazil, Russia, China, India, South Africa) countries. The multilateral lending bank has already built an asset under management (AUM) of $8 billion.

The projects are mainly environmental friendly, he said, adding that most of the projects to date are with sovereign guarantee. However, Maasdorp said the NDB has ambitious plans like lending to private sector.

The bank would be devoting about $1.5 billion per annum each to the BRICS countries and roughly about two-thirds of that would be devoted for projects of sovereign guarantee and rest to the private sector, Maasdrop added.