251 Firms Raised Rs 62462 Crore Via Placement

Fiscal 2000-01 witnessed an increasing activity in mobilisation of debt (bonds) through private placement, with 251 institutions and corporates mobilising an amount of Rs 62,462 crore. This has been reported in the annual report released by Prime, which operates the country's premier and only database on debt private placements.

The amount, according to Prithvi Haldea of Prime, is 14 per cent higher than Rs 54,701 crore raised in the previous year.

Taking cognisance of the international practice, Prime had decided to segregate debt placements which have a tenor or put/ call option of less than one year, with effect from 2000-01.

In view of this, the debt mobilisation during the year stood at Rs 52,434 crore raised by 214 organisations (comparable figure for previous years not available). The total mobilisation through less than one-year tenor bonds was Rs 10,028 crore.

The year, according to the organisation, witnessed a 59 per cent increase in mobilisation by all-India financial institutions/ banks from Rs 14,539 crore to Rs 23,073 crore, of which Rs 21,673 crore was of more than one-year tenor and Rs 1,400 crore of less than one-year tenor.

Leading the pack of more than one-year tenor mobilisers was ICICI (Rs 6,413 crore), followed by the State Bank of India (2,500 crore), Power Finance Corporation (Rs 1,780 crore), IFCI (Rs 1,508 crore), IDBI (Rs 1,455 crore) and IRFC (Rs 1,093 crore).

The mobilisation by state-level undertakings (SLUs), as per the report, recorded a 31 per cent fall from Rs 16,780 crore in 1999-00 to Rs 11,526 crore, comprising Rs 11,466 crore of more than one-year tenor and Rs 60 crore of less than one-year tenor.

Haldea said most of the funds raised by SLUs were for the infrastructure sector, mainly power, roads and water resources. The leader in more than one-year tenor mobiliser was Gujarat Electricity Board (Rs 981 crore), followed by MKVDC (Rs 860 crore), SSNNL (Rs 769 crore) and MSRDC (Rs 737 crore).

A notable development during the period, was the increasing mobilisation by the private sector.

In 1999-00, the corporates had raised Rs 12,595 crore with all tenors. In 2000-01, corporates raising recorded a 35 per cent increase at Rs 17,012 crore, comprising Rs 9,169 crore of more than one-year tenor and Rs 7,843 crore of less than one-year tenor.

Leading the pack of more than one-year tenor mobilisers was GE Capital (Rs 904 crore), followed by Reliance Petroleum (Rs 635 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs 630 crore) and Nirma (Rs 400 crore).