Vodafone-Essar, AI top ECB users in Jan

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Indian companies, led by Vodafone-Essar and Air India, raised $1.34 billion (Rs 7,030 crore) through external commercial borrowings in January, the Reserve Bank of India said today.

Of this, $764.08 million (around Rs 4,000 crore) was raised through the automatic route and $573 million (around Rs 3,000 crore) via the approval route. In December, companies had raised $1.67 billion (Rs 8,762 crore based on present exchange rate) through ECBs. Companies, however, continued to refrain from borrowing through foreign currency convertible bonds in January.
 

THE BIG BORROWERS
Company	Amount (in $ mn)	Tenure (in months)
National Aviation Co	364.18	145
Air India Charters	183.95	147
Vodafone-Essar Spacetel	184.00	65
Vodafone-Essar South	157.65	65
Vodafone-Essar Cellular	95.77	65
Vodafone-Essar Digilink	34.87	65
Vodafone-Essar	24.69	65
Vodafone-Essar Gujarat	23.36	65
Source: RBI

Vodafone-Essar was the largest borrower, raising $520.34 million (Rs 2,730 crore) for import of capital goods for various circles. The tenure of the loans raised through the automatic route was 65 months. In addition, Great Offshore ($52 million or Rs 273 crore) and Greatship (India) raised $24.16 million (Rs 127 crore) for import of capital goods.

Through the approval route, National Aviation Company, which operates air services under the Air India brand, raised $364.18 million (Rs 1,911 crore) for a tenure of 145 months to import capital goods. Air India Charters too accessed overseas loans worth $183.95 million (Rs 965 crore) for the same purpose but the tenure was 147 months.

In addition, Posco India Pune Processing Centre raised $10 million (Rs 52 crore) for modernisation.