India Inc foreign borrowing trebles to USD 3.81 bn in Dec

Foreign borrowing of Indian companies nearly trebled from the year-ago period to USD 3.81 billion in December 2018, according to data from the Reserve Bank of India.

Of the total fundraising during last month, USD 3.77 billion was mobilised through external commercial borrowings (ECBs) in the foreign markets, while USD 37.04 million was through rupee-denominated bonds (RDBs), showed the RBI data on ECB for December 2018.

The domestic firms had raised USD 1.31 billion through the ECB route in December 2017.

In the ECB category, USD 3.30 billion was raised through the automatic route and the rest of USD 473.56 million was mopped up through the approval route.

Among the major borrowers, Indian Oil Corporation raised USD 1.3 billion as a working capital loan; Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd USD 125 million for refinancing of earlier ECB; and Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd USD 195.83 million for power projects.

NTPC and Hindustan Petroleum Corp raised USD 300 million each for power ...