Averse bankers, willing RBI push companies towards the bond market

Corporate fund-raising momentum suggests that companies, at least the better-rated ones, may have permanently moved into the bond market, shaking off their dependence on bank loans.

However, it is not a linear trend for those rated “A” and below, who still heavily depend on banks for their funding needs.

The corporate bond market is still dominated by financial companies, but non-financial companies have marked their presence in the past one year.

Part of this was due to extraordinary accommodation offered by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last year through its long-term repo operations (LTRO) funds, and targeted LTRO or TLTRO.

Firms raised money