High cost of rupee fund has forced the Indian companies to raise capital through foreign debt as 11 companies have raised a record $7.5 billion in foreign debt this year via bonds, which is 75 per cent of what India Inc had mopped up in the entire 2012. To be more precise, so far this year, 11 corporates in 13 issuances have sold bonds worth $7.472 billion to foreign investors, while in the entire 2012 corporate India raised just $10 billion in foreign debts.
Among the corporate, Bharti Airtel led the pack with a $1.5 billion fund-raising in March in two tranches ($1 billion and $500 million) paying a coupon of 5.13% for 10-year bonds. Second biggest fund raiser was State Bank of India, which recently mopped up $1 billion through a 5-year US dollar-denominated bond sale that set a new benchmark for itself by pricing it at just 3.25%. RIL was the third biggest external borrower and sold perpetual bonds worth $800 million in January at a coupon of 5.88%.
Further, as per the merchant bankers, this year corporate India is going to mop up at least $20 billion in foreign debt, mostly through bond sales. Reliance, the most cash-rich company in the country having over Rs 84,000-crore cash mount, is planning to raise further $2 billion to fund its capex plan. Moreover, ONGC arm - OVL is planning to raise $1 billion via bond sale to fund its overseas acquisition. The state-run Union Bank is also working on a $500-million issue.
