Indian Firms Borrowed $1.89 Billion from Overseas in June: RBI

Mumbai: Borrowings by Indian firms declined over 3 per cent from a year ago to $1.89 billion in June 2014, according to Reserve Bank (RBI) data released on Tuesday.

During June 2013, India Inc had raised $1.95 billion from overseas markets by way of external commercial borrowings (ECBs).

Of the total companies raising money abroad during June, 55 firms borrowed $1.30 billion through automatic route and 14 raised $583.7 million from approval route.

In approval route category, HPCL-Mittal Pipelines Ltd raised $262.5 million in two separate tranches for refinancing of earlier ECBs.

State-owned carrier Air India raised $149.5 million in two tranches for import of capital goods and SCI Forbes Limited raised $35.25 million to refinance earlier ECBs.

In the automatic route, India Oil Corporation Ltd raised $650 million to refinance an earlier ECB, Reliance Industries borrowed $238.02 million for import of capital goods, and construction major Larsen & Toubro Ltd raised $100 million for rupee expenditure.

Among others, Hero Cycles borrowed money for overseas acquisition, Lotte India Corporation for new projects, Aditya Birla Nuvo for refinancing of earlier ECBs and Technofab Engineering for modernisation.