India Inc raise 'highest ever in a fiscal' Rs 4.32 lakh crore via debt placement last year

Indian companies raised a record Rs 4.32 lakh crore last fiscal through private placement of corporate bonds to meet business needs, a surge of 60% from the preceding year.

Firms raked in Rs 4,32,692 crore in 2014-15 through private placement of corporate bonds, higher than Rs 2.71 lakh crore garnered in the preceding financial year ended March 2014, as per a report by Prime Database.

This was the highest ever fund raising by companies in a financial year. The previous high was in 2012-13, when firms had garnered Rs 3.52 lakh crore.

In debt private placements, firms issue securities or bonds to institutional investors to raise capital.

These funds have been raised mainly for expansion of business plans and to support working capital requirements.

Financial institutions/banks contributed to most of the fund raising, Prime Database Executive Director Sanjeev Khandelwal said.

Despite a rally of 25 per cent in BSE's benchmark Sensex in last fiscal, companies flocked to the debt route instead of raising capital through public offers.

Financial services sector continued to dominate the market, collectively raising Rs 3.2 lakh crore or 74 per cent of the total amount. This was followed by power segment with an fund mop-up of Rs 35,312 crore.

The highest mobilisation through private placement of debt during the period was by Power Finance Corp (Rs 46,920 crore), followed by Rural Electrification Corp (Rs 34,538 crore), HDFC (Rs 29,170 crore), LIC Housing Finance (Rs 24,791 crore), IDFC (Rs 15,114 crore).