India Inc's foreign borrowings stood at $488.49 mn in November
Indian companies have raised $488.49 million through external commercial borrowings (ECBs) and rupee denominated bonds (RDBs) in November 2016, according to Reserve Bank of India data.
India Inc had raised $3.16 billion from foreign sources in the corresponding month of last year. This significant decline was seen in terms of the number of companies too, as only 34 companies raised money through ECB last month as against 53 in November last year.
The RBI said that the data, however, cannot be compared as borrowings through RDBs were included only this year.
The banking body has allowed Indian companies to tap foreign sources and has started to issue RDBs from this year. It has started to publish the data on these rupee denominated bonds starting September 2016.
Of the total borrowings from foreign markets in November, the Indian companies raised $277.81 million through ECBs, using both the automatic and the approval route.
In the ECB category, John Energy Ltd. and Kalsubai Shipping & Offshore Pvt. Ltd. raised a total of $41 million by using the approval channel, while the major borrowers in the automatic category were Mytrah Vayu (Tungabhadra) Pvt. Ltd.'s $48.55 million for new project, Maxxis Rubber India Pvt. Ltd.'s $40 million for import of capital goods, and Bekaert Industries Pvt. Ltd.'s $21.62 million for import of capital goods.
Commercial vehicle maker SML Isuzu raised $20.89 million for modernisation work, and the remaining $210.68 million was raised by a total of eight companies.
Among the other companies that had issued RDBs were Power Finance Corporation ($100 million), TRL Riceland ($59.15 million) and Tiaa Global Business Services ($15.69 million).