India Inc's foreign borrowings down 5.8% to $2.46 bn

Data from RBI shows,the money by the Indian companies was raised through external commercial borrowings and RBDs route

Indian companies' foreign borrowings were at $2.46 billion in September, down 5.8% from a year ago.

This year's September data also included borrowings through rupee denominated bonds (RBD) by Indian companies for the first time after the Reserve Bank allowed them to raise money from such sources.

In September 2015, India Inc's borrowings from overseas market (not including RBD) stood at $2.61 billion.

The money by the Indian companies was raised through external commercial borrowings (ECBs) and RBDs route, data from RBI showed.

Seven companies raised a total of $889.09 million (Rs 5,933.6 crore) through rupee denominated bonds during the month.

Those taking RBD route included HDFC Ltd $224.76 million (Rs 1,500 crore), Shriram Transport Finance Co $449.52 million (Rs 3,000 crore) and Indiabulls Housing Finance $199.29 million (Rs 1,330 crore), each for the purpose of sub lending.

In the ECB category, the companies raised $1.19 billion from automatic route and $387.07 million from approval route.

In approval route, Indiabulls Housing Finance raised $200 million for on-lending, Rural Electrification Corporation $100 million for on-lending and Indian Synthetic Rubber Pvt Ltd $66.60 million for refinancing of earlier ECB.

Those raising capital in an automatic route included Reliance Sibur Elastomers $330 million for rupee expenditure and Wipro $150 million for refinancing of earlier ECB.