Govt eases norms to attract foreign investors

New Delhi: The government on Saturday announced simplification of removal of norms for foreign institutional investors (FIIs) to invest in government and corporate bonds, in its latest attempt to woo overseas investors to finance the widening current account deficit.

The move, which will be applicable from April 1, was among the major demands made by FIIs during their recent interaction with finance minister P Chidambaram and his team. From next month, the government, Sebi and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have decided to remove sub-limits for FIIs within the overall cap for bonds.

From now on, there will only be two ceilings — a $25-billion limit for investment in government securities that has been formed by merging g-secs (old) and g-secs (long term). In addition, there will be a $51-billion sub-limit for corporate bonds that will include the existing one for FIIs ($25 billion), qualified foreign investors ($1 billion) and $25 billion for FIIs in long term infrastructure bonds.

Chidambaram told the National Editors' Conference here that Sebi's current mechanism for allocating debt limits for corporate bonds will be replaced by the 'on tap system' that is used for infrastructure bonds. To make the regime more predictable, the government said that the corporate bond ceiling when 80% of the limit was exhausted.

In case of g-secs, however, the government appeared more cautious and decided to limit the annual enhancement within 5% of Centre's gross borrowings during a fiscal. The government has budgeted for borrowings of Rs 5.79 lakh crore, which means that the government can at best enhance the ceiling for the current fiscal by around $5 billion.

"The current account deficit (CAD) can be financed only through foreign inflows and that is why I am happy to announce a major rationalization of foreign investment in government securities and corporate bonds," the minister said. FII flows and foreign direct investment are crucial for India to fund its current account deficit that is expected to hit 4.5% of GDP during the current financial year. Large inflows would check against a steep depreciation of the rupee and ensure that there are sufficient foreign exchange reserves to cover for imports.

India Inc raises $1.6 bn via ECBs in Nov 2011

Mumbai: India Inc raised raised $ 1.6 billion via external commercial borrowings (ECBs) in November, 2011. According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the ECB borrowing dipped by $900 million as against $2.5 billion in October 2011.

Under the automatic route, 78 companies raised $ 1.3 billion. ONGC Mangalore Petrochem raised $250 million and Tata Teleservices borrowed $200 million for financing of new project and import of capital goods respectively. Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation (IDFC) also raised $100 million for onward lending to infrastructure projects via ECB.

Currently, the government allows the companies to raise up to $750 million under the automatic route in a year. Beyond $750 million, approval by the RBI is required.
A total of $253 million was raised under the approval route that requires case-by-case nod by the regulator. Under the approval route, Dredging Corporation of India raised $253 million for development of ports, while The India Hotels Company borrowed $95 million. No foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCB) were issued.

The ECB borrowings have slowed over the past few months as the global economic outlook is weak and firms are following a wait and watch policy with respect to their investment activities, economists said.