Fund raising by firms through NCDs halves to Rs 6,912 crore in Apr-Nov FY15

Funds raised by listed companies through retail issuance of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) almost halved to Rs 6,912 crore during first eight months of the ongoing 2014-15 financial year as compared to the corresponding period in FY14.

NCDs are loan-linked bonds that cannot be converted into stocks and usually offer higher interest rates than convertible debentures.

An amount of Rs 15,021.73 crore was garnered by companies through 12 issues of NCDs during April-November 2013, as per latest data compiled by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Meanwhile, during the April-November period in FY15, Rs 6,911.99 crore was raised from as many as 18 NCD issues by companies like Shriram City Union Finance, Kosamattam Finance, SREI Infrastructure Finance, ECL Finance, Manappuram Finance and IFCI.

Most of the funds were raised by the listed companies to support working capital requirements and for general corporate purposes.

The highest amount (Rs 1,974 crore) was garnered by Shriram Transport Finance Company in July, followed by IFCI (Rs 1,209.19 crore) in November.

Gold financing company Muthoot Finance raised funds worth Rs 466.19 crore through an issue in June and another Rs 397.78 crore in September.

Among others, ECL Finance mopped up Rs 400 crore, SREI Infrastructure Finance's issue garnered Rs 326.14 crore, Manappuram Finance's issue amounted to Rs 278.55 crore and Muthoottu Mini Financiers mobilised Rs 269.13 crore, in the 2014-15 fiscal.

In FY15, all the companies managed to raise funds above the initially targeted amount under their respective issues.