PNB Housing raises Rs 17.75 bn in commercial paper from MFs, banks

Housing finance company says it raised money in current month, is silent on interest rate

PNB Housing Finance Ltd has raised Rs 17.75 billion through Commercial Papers (CP) by placing it with mutual funds and banks, amid tight liquidity and an over-cautious approach to investment into paper floated by finance companies.

Housing finance company in a statement said it raised money in the current month. But, did not specify interest rate it agreed for raising money. Funds were raised at competitive rates, it added.

“This fund raise would not increase overall exposure to CPs and we would continue to maintain our overall borrowing through CPs at around 12-13 per cent compared to 19 per cent as of 31st March, 2018, it said.

Sanjaya Gupta, Managing Director, PNB HFC said, in spite of the current tight market scenario, the company has raised funds through CPs. These borrowings in the present environment exhibits the trust and faith of the lender community in PNB Housing Finance.

As on date, the Company has cash and liquid investments of about Rs 60 billion”. During the month of September 2018, HFC did not raise any funds from capital market in view of the surplus liquidity it had.

Kapish Jain, Chief Financial Officer, PNB HFC said the company also raised funds through External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs), in addition to CPs in October. This has been possible only due to strong fundamentals. Moreover, the company is comfortable both in terms of liquidity and ALM position.