India Inc foreign borrowing swells 20% in Mar at USD 5.07 bn

India Inc raised USD 5.07 billion via external commercial borrowing (ECBs) and rupee-denominated bonds (RDBs) in March 2018, up by 20 per cent from the same month last year, the RBI data released today showed.

Indian companies had raised USD 4.24 billion from foreign sources in March 2017.

Under the approval route, HDFC Bank raised USD 500 million for on-lending purpose while Shriram Transport Finance Co Ltd raised USD 49.98 million for on-lending through RDBs.

Rural Electrification Crop raised a total of USD 700 million in three different tranches through ECBs while Power Finance Corp raised USD 250 million.

In automatic route category of ECB, major borrowers included: Power Finance Corp USD 450 million for refinancing of earlier ECB; NTPC Ltd USD 400 million for power projects; Hindustan Petroleum Corporation USD 300 million for refinancing earlier ECB.

Indiabulls Housing Finance raised USD 200 million (refinancing earlier ECB) and Keihin India Manufacturing Pvt. Limited USD 204.55 million for import of capital goods.