As part of its efforts to ease regulated foreign currency loans in general, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently liberalized its External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) policy to bolster medium-term debt investments in the infrastructure sector.
The RBI has reduced the minimum average maturity period of loans taken out by infrastructure companies to three years, irrespective of the amount, and has exempted mandatory 100% hedging to loan facilities that have an average maturity of five years or more. It has also reduced the mandatory hedge coverage to 70% from 100% for loans that have a maturity period of between three and five years.
J. Sagar Associates
The changes are meant to arrest the depreciation of the rupee by causing forex inflow in demand driven sectors and reducing the compliance cost for infrastructure companies, as hedging costs may vary between 4% to 7% of the loan amount. While the rupee has strengthened marginally, it still continues to be one of the worst performing Asian currencies. No definitive data is available to ascertain if there was indeed an uptake in ECB by infrastructure companies after the liberalisation.
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Anish Mashruwala and Soumitra Majumdar are partners at J. Sagar Associates. Views are personal.
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Anish Mashruwala | Tel: +91 22 4341 8577
Email: anish.mashruwala@jsalaw.com
Soumitra Majumdar | Tel: +91 22 4341 8535
Email: soumitra.majumdar@jsalaw.com
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