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Capital Raising by Bonds: What to make out of it?

TIP Guy 16 October 2010 bonds, Reader QnAs 16 Comments

Indian economy has left the recession concerns behind and showed resilience. The equity market indexes reflect this positive environment. FII’s are pumping money into markets and Indian economy. So why should our Indian companies remain behind? Shouldn’t they also try to get capital from different sources either by IPOs, QIPS, or equity, or bonds? And that’s what we are seeing these days. Every Indian company is trying to grab capital from financial markets. Some are raising capital by means of issuing corporate bonds!


As per an data published by AK Capital Services Ltd, in FY2009/10, public and private sectors combined raised close to Rs 172,000 crore of capital from Indian and foreign markets. In FY2010/11, this figure is expected to be Rs 350,000 crore i.e. almost double. Majority of this comes from foreign markets. I do not have exact numbers, my guesstimate is 80%+ comes from foreign markets.

Examples are: SBI, IDFC, Union Bank, L&T


One reader asked, why a company like SBI (i.e. a bank) issues bonds to raise capital? It is already in the business of collecting deposits from people?

Simple answer to this question is: Banks like SBI, need more money than they can collect from deposits. Continue reading rest of this article…

BONDs Provide Solid Foundation in Investment Portfolio

TIP Guy 10 May 2010 bonds, strategy 19 Comments

Thirteen years ago, when I graduated and started working, my dad had couple of suggestions. Papa ne kaha, “dekho beta, you have graduated and will be earning on your own”, he continued, “you have to develop your own thinking and your own future. We have mentored you enough, now you are on your own”. [At that point in time, I did not realize what he meant by this. Anyways] He also said, “meri sirf do baat yaad rakhna”. And following are those two words.


  1. You will earn a lot of money in your life. You will not be alone. Everybody does it. The important thing for you would be to figure how to keep it. Samajh rahe ho. Keep it, and not let it go waste.
  2. Never forget my generation’s government bonds. They are wealth builder.

As it always happens, I have never made an effort to follow my dad’s advice. But now when I look back, I realize that sub-consciously, I have followed both of his recommendations. Continue reading rest of this article…

Herd Mentality in Current Fund Raising Environment

TIP Guy 19 September 2009 bonds, economy, markets No Comments

herd_groupIn last few months, quite a few Indian business houses embarked upon fund raising for one reason or the other. Some businesses raised funds for debt financing needs, some needed operation cash, some needed working capital, some need for growth needs, and many needed it little bit for everything. Furthermore, the method adopted by business houses have been varied such as qualified institutional placements (QIPs), american depository shares (ADS), global depository shares (GDS), non-convertible debentures (NCDs), asset sales, stake sales, and public offering (IPOs). In general the response has been tremendous and quite a bit of capital was/is being committed by all the participants, including retail investors like you and me.

In April/June 2009 timeframe, it is estimated that a total of $24 billion was raised by Indian companies, while it is estimated that $30+ billion was raised in first six months of 2009. Now this is just the amount raised and does not include the amount committed. The table below shows the some the companies that have gone to capital markets for raising funds. It is not comprehensive but shows the level of capital raised in foreign markets, and in Indian markets.

Continue reading rest of this article…

Indian Corporates Offering NCDs

TIP Guy 24 August 2009 bonds, commentary, opinion 1 Comment

question1In very simple terms, Non Convertible Debentures (NCDs) are a loan to the company issuing it. This loan, or NCDs, cannot be converted into equity. Public or Private companies issue NCDs to fund many activities such as growth plans, corporate expenses, pay out earlier loans, working capital, etc. I consider NCDs as a form of  private or public sector bonds, depends upon who issues it.

The key attractive aspect about NCD is they are fixed income vehicle with capital being secured. In general, NCDs offer returns that are 2% to 4% higher than savings, CDs, or some of other government bonds. For example, the current L&T offers interest rates in the range of 9.51% to 10.24%, while Shiram Transports offered NCD upto 11.5%.

Continue reading rest of this article…



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