India Inc’s NCD fund-raising up 4-fold to Rs 40K crore

Fund raising via retail issuance of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) by Indian companies has shot up by over 4-fold to Rs 40,000 crore in the current fiscal, ending March 31, as equities remained volatile. Companies had garnered Rs 9,713 crore last fiscal. Most of the funds have been mobilised for expansion, to support working capital requirements and other general corporate purposes. NCDs are loan-linked bonds that cannot be converted into stock and usually offer higher interest rates than convertible debentures. As per the latest data with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), firms raked in a total of Rs 40,157 crore through NCDs in the current fiscal (2015-16) as on March 10. In terms of numbers, 18 issuances have taken the NCD route in the ongoing fiscal as compared to 25 in the entire 2014-15. Some companies have raised funds twice during the current fiscal. Experts said volatile market conditions have forced many companies to opt for NCD route to garner fresh capital.