India Inc raises $1.69 bn from overseas markets in Mar

The Dollar Business Bureau

India Inc has raised $1.69 billion from foreign markets in the month of March this year, an increase of 11.6% compared to a year ago.

Domestic companies had raised $1.52 billion via external commercial borrowings (ECB) in the month of March last year.

An extra $1.65 billion was mopped up via rupee-denominated bonds (RDBs), a type of bond permitted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2016 for firms to float such type of bonds in foreign markets to raise funds only. The data is incomparable to RDBs mop-up.

The major borrowers that went through the RDB route were HDFC - raised $758.99 million for the purpose of on-lending, Sembcorp Gayatri Power – raised $523.80 million to refinance rupee loans and Praxair India - $364.50 million for general corporate purpose.

Major firms exercising the option of ECBs were Bharti Airtel - $500 million and Indiabulls Housing Finance $150 million for refinancing previous ECBs.

Other companies that tapped the ECB option were Intel Technology India Pvt – which raised $148.76 million for rupee expenditure, Cadila Healthcare borrowed $100 million for overseas acquisition and China Steel Corporation India Pvt Ltd which borrowed $110 million to refinance earlier ECBs.