Fund raising via pvt placement of bonds up 67% to Rs 2.43 lakh cr

Indian companies have garnered a staggering Rs 2.43 lakh crore through private placement of debt securities or bonds in the first half of 2015-16 fiscal, a surge of 67% from the year-ago level.

The funds have been raised for business expansion plans, to support working capital requirements and for other general corporate purposes.

According to the latest data with market regulator Sebi, listed companies had garnered a total of Rs 2.43 lakh crore from debt on a private placement basis in April-September period of 2015-16, higher than Rs 1.45 lakh crore mopped up in the year-ago period.

Besides, the number of issues in the period under review climbed to 1,708 from 1,056 during the first six months of 2014-15.

In debt private placements, firms issue debt securities or bonds to institutional investors to raise capital.

According to market experts, the increase in fund mobilisation through debt securities could be attributed to a volatile stock market and depreciating rupee compared to a US dollar.

The BSE's benchmark Sensex slumped by more than 6% during the period under review, while the Indian rupee has fallen by Rs 3.09 against the American currency. Currently, the domestic currency is hovering at Rs 65.13.

Of the total funds raised in first half of the ongoing fiscal, Rs 1.06 lakh crore were raised by companies listed only on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), while Rs 85,018 crore were mobilised through issues only on BSE.

During 2015-16, the highest amount of funds (Rs 84,807 crore) were mobilised by the companies in April, followed by Rs 46,564 crore in August.