50 cos mop up $2.8 bn overseas debt in April

Fifty companies raised over $2.8 billion debt from the overseas markets in April, with cellular operator Vodafone Essar, Shipping Corporation of India and Exim Bank accounting for bulk of this mop-up.

The debt raised through external commercial borrowings (ECBs) and foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) was, however, less than $4.32 billion raised by 73 companies in the previous month.

The Reserve Bank today said Vodafone Essar and Export Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) raised $1.47 billion and $200 million in ECBs, respectively through the approval route. While Vodafone cited "rupee expenditure" as its purpose of raising the debt, Exim Bank said it needed the funds for onward/sub-lending.

The National Aviation Company, which operates the flag carrier Air India, raised $376.55 million during the month. It had raised over $855.50 million for the same reason for "importing capital goods", in March.

As many as 36 companies availed of the automatic route to mop up funds from the overseas market. The pack was led by Shipping Corporation of India raised $259.56 million in ECBs, followed by Core Projects & Technologies which mopped up $75 million through FCCBs for to funs its overseas acquisition, while Prakash Industries ($60 million) and Asian Hotels North ($44 million) availed of this mode of fund raising to fund modernisation.

All these 50 companies raised debts for the time-frame ranging from 11 months to over seven years.