India Inc's foreign borrowings fall 9% to $2.81 bn in February; Oil India, IOC, Shriram Transport Finance among major borrowers

Mumbai: India Inc’s borrowings from foreign markets fell to $2.81 billion in February, down by 9 percent as compared to the year-ago month, data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed on Friday. [caption id=“attachment_2334664” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AP[/caption] The domestic firms had raised as much as $3.1 billion through the external commercial borrowing (ECB) route in the corresponding month of 2018. No firms tapped the rupee-denominated bonds route to borrow capital from foreign markets during February. The entire fund mop-up during the month was done through the automatic route of ECB, showed the RBI data. Among the major borrowers were Oil India Ltd ($550 million for overseas investment), Indian Oil Corporation ($400 million as working capital loan), Shriram Transport Finance Company ($400 million for sub-lending) and Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services ($300 million for sub-lending). Tata Capital Housing Finance raised $200 million for on-lending, HPCL Rajasthan Refinery $140.71 million for new project investment, and Barclays Global Services Centre Pvt Ltd $130.11 million for new project.