Credit Suisse expands focus on India cross-border DCM coverage

Ankur Khurana, a director at Credit Suisse, has assumed a new role in Indian debt capital markets (DCM) coverage and has been tasked to lead cross-border DCM coverage for Indian borrowers. Khurana will continue to be based in Mumbai and reports to Derek Armstrong, head of DCM for Asia-Pacific and Rahul Chawla, head of the global markets solutions group for India.

According to an internal memo on April 26, which was signed by Armstrong and Chawla, Khurana’s primary responsibility is to drive cross-border DCM products, an area where the firm sees growing client activity. This includes Indian borrowers issuing in Swiss francs and other offshore currencies such as the US dollar.

With onshore rates rising in India, more issuers are expected to tap the offshore market. At the same time, borrowers have been seeking out alternative currencies — such as the Swiss franc — to diversify their funding sources. The Swiss franc bond market is an area of focus for the Swiss banks and has been described as a “duopoly” between Credit Suisse and rival UBS.

Khurana joined Credit Suisse in 2011 as a director in the global markets solutions group in India, which comprises equity capital markets, DCM and structured financing. Since joining, she has worked on risk management solutions for Indian clients seeking financing and will continue to focus on that.

Before joining Credit Suisse, Khurana worked at J.P. Morgan where she was primarily covering forex and interest rate risk management for Indian corporates and institutions. She also worked for ICICI for two years in its agribusiness corporate banking and derivative sales team.