Indian firms raising foreign funds, amounts dip in November

No of firms raising money through the ECB route in Nov 2016 fell to 34 from 53 in Nov 2015

Both the total amount of foreign funds raised as well as the number of Indian companies, which raised funds overseas fell sharply in November 2016, as compared to the same month last year, official data showed on Monday.

Indian companies raised $488.49 million via External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs) and Rupee Denominated Bonds (RDBs) in November, as compared to the $3.16 billion they had raised from foreign sources in the same month a year ago, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a release.

The number of companies raising money through the ECB route in November 2016 fell to 34 from 53 in November 2015.

Of the total borrowings by Indian companies overseas during November, $277.81 million was raised via ECBs, using both the automatic and approval route.

The RBI has allowed Indian companies to tap foreign sources by issuing RDBs from this year and it has started publishing the data on these rupee denominated bonds from September 2016.

Kalsubai Shipping & Offshore Pvt Ltd and John Energy Limited raised a total of $41 million in the ECB category by using the approval channel.

The major borrowers in an automatic category were Mytrah Vayu (Tungabhadra) Pvt Ltd's $48.55 million for a new project, Maxxis Rubber India's $40 million for import of capital goods and Bekaert Industries' $21.62 million for import of capital goods.

An amount of $210.68 million were raised via RDBs by a total of eight companies, the statement said.

The prominent companies issuing RDBs include Power Finance Corporation ($100 million) for sub-lending, TRL Riceland ($59.15 million) for other purposes and Tiaa Global Business Services ($15.69 million) for rupee expenditure, it added.