The bank said its most recent issue tapped into the $74m, five-year sale it launched in July, expanding its size to around $179m to take advantage of strong investor demand and supportive market conditions.

Pierre Van Peteghem, ADB treasurer, said that by tapping into emerging local currency markets, the bank is sending a “clear sign to investors” of its “commitment to creating liquid benchmarks in capital markets in developing Asia”.

While the ADB is a regular borrower in the mainstream international bond markets, it is also working to pioneer issuance in developing Asian countries in order to promote domestic bond markets as an alternative to bank lending. It plans to raise around $20bn overall from capital markets in 2016.

Proceeds from its most recent issuance ­– which saw 47% of bonds placed in Asia with the rest going to Europe, the Middle East and Africa – will be used to support private sector lending in the Indian market.

The bank approved $836m private sector projects in India last year, making the country its largest market.

The issuance marks the bank’s fourth issuance in the offshore Indian rupee-linked market. Its other local currency issuances include bonds denominated in Georgian lari, the Philippine’s peso and the Thai baht.

Last week, another Asian nation, China, was assisted in its efforts to internationalise its currency – and encourage foreign investors into its domestic market – by a development institution.

The World Bank launched its first venture into the Chinese domestic bond market with bonds denominated in the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Rights, which is based on a basket of different currencies including the US dollar, sterling and, from October this year, the Chinese renminbi.