Fund raising via debt placement up 55% to `64,000 crore in April

Indian companies raised close to Rs 64,000 crore in April through a private placement of corporate bonds, a surge of 55 per cent from the year-ago level, for business expansion and propping up working capital requirements.

This is on top of Rs 6.41 lakh crore garnered in the entire last fiscal through this route.

These funds have been raked in mainly for expansion of business plans, repayment of debt and to support working capital requirements. According to latest data available with markets regulator Sebi, firms garnered a total of Rs 63,819 crore in April 2017, higher than Rs 41,079 crore raised in the year-ago period.

In March, firms had mopped-up Rs 85,633 crore through the route. Bajaj Capital Senior VP and Head Investment Analytics, Alok Agarwala attributed the high inflow to low-interest rates.

"The cost of raising debt was lower due to decline in interest rates, which encouraged companies to raise capital through private and public bonds," he added. In terms of numbers, 301 issues were made in April this year compared to 314 in the same month last year.

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