BRICS development bank plans to fund $3 billion worth of projects in 2017

The New Development Bank set up by the BRICS group of emerging economies plans to fund 15 infrastructure projects in member countries worth upto USD 3 billion this year, the bank's president, KV Kamath, said on Thursday.

The bank also plans to raise USD 300 million to USD 500 million in rupee-denominated bonds, called "masala" bonds, in the second half of the year, Kamath told Reuters in an interview in New Delhi.

The BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -agreed to create the New Development Bank in July 2014 with an initial authorised capital of USD 100 billion. The lender was officially launched a year later.

Last year, the bank, headquartered in Shanghai, funded 7 projects worth nearly USD 1.5 billion, said Kamath, who ran India's ICICI Bank from 1996 until 2009.