India Inc's foreign borrowing rises 14% in Dec at US $637.29 million

India Inc raised US $637.29 million from overseas markets in December 2014, up 13.65 per cent from the year-ago month, according to the data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The domestic firms had raised US $560.73 million from overseas markets in the corresponding month in 2013.

Of the total borrowings during the December, 2014, US $145.62 million was raised through approval route, while US $491.67 million came through automatic route.

As many as 59 companies raised money from automatic route and 4 firms raised via approval route during the month under review.

In the approval route category, Oil India Limited (OIL) raised US $125 million for refinancing of earlier ECB, Goldman Sachs Services US $75 million for general corporate purpose, Sabmiller India raised US $50 million for general corporate usage and Himatsingka Seida raised US $21 million for overseas acquisition.

In the approval route, Air India raised US $99.5 million for import of capital goods, Sandisk India Device Design Centre and Mercator raised US $28 million and US $18 million respectively for mordernisation projects.