Cos raise Rs 7,900 cr through e-bidding platforms of bourses

Indian companies have raised Rs 7,900 crore by issuing bonds through private placement on the stock exchanges' electronic bidding platforms since Sebi's new guidelines came into effect from April 1.

Individually, firms have garnered Rs 6,900 crore and Rs 1,000 crore on electronic book mechanism of BSE and NSE, respectively.

Under the new norms, Sebi has made electronic platform mandatory for all private placement issues on debt basis that have a threshold of Rs 200 crore, a move aimed at achieving better and transparent price discovery through the bidding process.

Prior to that, the mechanism was mandatory for all private placements of debt securities with an issue size of Rs 500 crore or more.

The new guidelines also included other classes of debt securities like commercial papers, certificate of deposits, municipal bonds and non-convertible redeemable preference shares, in addition to only corporate bonds, which was earlier allowed for fund raising through private placement.

Till date, five issuers have come up with seven issues of bonds and successfully raised Rs 6,900 crore on BSE Bond platform after the rollout of new norms, the exchange said in a statement issued today.

Among the issuers were, Reliance Jio Infocomm and Dewan Housing Finance Corporation that have opted for the route to garner funds.

In 2017-18, 84 issuers raised Rs 2,08,906 crore through 532 issues of bonds using the BSE's bond platform.

In a separate statement, NSE said it has witnessed raising of over Rs 1,000 crore of debt capital in all seven issuances.

"The electronic bidding platform is aimed at enhancing transparency and price discovery in the debt capital markets and is a part of several initiatives by the regulator towards deepening the debt capital markets," the exchange noted.