India Inc borrowings from foreign markets down 41% to $2.03 billion in Oct

Of the total borrowings under the external commercial borrowing (ECB) route during October 2020, a total of $1.73 billion came in through the automatic route while the rest $300 million was through the approval route.

India Inc’s borrowing from foreign markets fell by nearly 41% to around $2.03 billion in October this year compared to the year-ago period, according to the RBI data.

amount was raised by way of rupee-denominated bonds (RDBs) or masala bonds during the month under reporting in 2020 and 2019. (Bloomberg File Photo)

The domestic firms had borrowed more than $3.41 billion from overseas markets in October 2019.

No amount was raised by way of rupee-denominated bonds (RDBs) or masala bonds during the month under reporting in 2020 and 2019.

Of the total borrowings under the external commercial borrowing (ECB) route during October 2020, a total of $1.73 billion came in through the automatic route while the rest $300 million was through the approval route.

Under the automatic route, major borrowers included Reliance Industries Ltd ($1 billion for refinancing of earlier ECB); Bajaj Finance Ltd and Larsen and Toubro Ltd ($100 million each for the purpose of on-lending and refinancing of earlier ECB respectively).

ATC Tires AP Pvt Ltd borrowed $52 million for new project and $51 million by Luxshare India, which is into manufacturing of computer, electronic and optical products, for new project funding.

In the approval route, Power Finance Corporation was the only firm to raise a total of $300 million in two tranches for on-lending purposes, the RBI data showed.