India Inc mopped-up over Rs 12,000 crore through private placement of debt securities, or bonds in July, the lowest level in nearly five years.
The July figure also marked a slump of 65 per cent in fund raising activity through private placement of debt securities from Rs 35,214 crore raked in the preceding month.
In debt private placements, firms issue debt securities or bonds to institutional investors to raise capital.
According to latest data available with the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Indian firms raked in a total of Rs 12,182 crore from the debt on a private placement basis route in July as compared to Rs 35,214 crore garnered in June.
This is the lowest level of funds garnered in a single month since October 2008, when Indian companies had raised Rs 8,769 crore.
In April this year, companies had raised Rs 41,812 crore, the highest—level in nine months.
At Rs 41,812 crore, the amount was the highest raised by Indian companies through private placement of bonds since July 2012, when they had raked in R 57,745 crore via 202 issues.
Also, the number of issuances fallen to 141 in July from 222 in the previous month.
Market experts believe companies have avoided private placement of debt route for raising funds because of weakness in rupee.
Of late, the Indian currency has been consistently hitting new record lows and it slumped to a life—time low of 64.12 (intra—day) against the US dollar today. Since April 30, the rupee has depreciated by over 14 per cent.