Indian bonds have to wait longer to enter global bond index

Indian government bonds were placed on positive Index Watch for the JPMorgan Bond Index Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) benchmark in October 2021 and will continue to remain on Index Watch at this time, based on investor feedback, JPMorgan said on Tuesday.

"As part of the Index Watch, we will continue to engage with the regulators and market participants, and gather feedback on sufficient resolutions for the remaining hurdles," it said in a statement.

Investors expected a decision on this as early as this month, when operators meet to evaluate the index's composition, especially after Russia's withdrawal earlier this year, which prompted foreign investors to increase their purchases of Indian government bonds with no investment cap, it added.

Since 2013, India has sought admission to global bond indexes, although that goal has been hindered by a variety of circumstances, and JPMorgan just began considering India's inclusion in its global bond index in 2021.

India is one of the largest and most liquid onshore bond markets among EM nations, and the market has made substantial gains in expanding access for international portfolio investors over the last two years.

Morgan Stanley projected earlier this month that India's inclusion in the global bond index might result in extra flows of up to $30 billion into the Indian government bond market within 10 months.

It predicted last year that it could generate $170 billion to $250 billion in inflows over the next decade. Most of JPMorgan's index investors endorse including India in the index, but believe issues such as investor verification and settlement rules need to be worked out first, Reuters reported last month.