External Commercial Borrowings

RBI limits total outstanding of external commercial borrowings to 6.5% of GDP

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday announced a cap on the outstanding stock of external commercial borrowings (ECB) at 6.5 percent of GDP at current market prices.

RBI eases hedging norms for external commercial borrowings by reducing provision to 70% from current 100%

The relaxed norms will apply to the ECBs with a maturity period between 3 and 5 years, the RBI said in a notification

Reserve Bank of India relaxes ECB norms for infra companies to 3 years from 5 years

The relaxations in the ECB norms follow other moves by the RBI, including last week's permission to banks to use credit enhancement to help NBFCs raise medium to long-term funds.

RBI nod to masala bonds by Indian firms welcoming as exchange rate risks shift to lenders

Masala bonds shift the exchange rate risks onto the lenders, with all other features of ECB staying intact.

RBI extends ECB borrowing window for airlines till March 2016

The overall ECB ceiling for the entire civil aviation sector would be $1 billion and the maximum permissible ECB that can be availed by an individual airline company will be $300 million, it said.

FinMin seeks to reduce withholding tax on ECBs

Former finance minister Pranab Mukherjee in his budget for 2012-13 in May had proposed to slash withholding tax from 20 percent to 5 percent.

RBI allows overseas lenders to give rupee loans to Indian companies

The RBI further said for lending in rupees, the lender would have to follow certain conditions, including currency swaps with authorised banks.<br />