Companies mop up Rs 44,000 crore in Oct; Rs 2.86 lakh crore since Apr.

 Indian companies have garnered nearly Rs 44,000 crore through private placement of corporate bonds in October, taking the total to over Rs 2.86 lakh crore in the first 7 months of the current fiscal.

The funds have been raised for expansion, to support working capital requirements and for general corporate purposes.

Corporate bonds are essentially a certificate of debt issued by firms for their businesses.

As per data available with capital markets regulator Sebi, companies have collectively mopped-up Rs 43,931 crore in October, much higher than Rs 26,611 crore raised in the preceding month.

This has taken the total funds mobilisation to Rs 2.86 lakh crore in the April-October period of 2015-16, while firms have raked in Rs 4.04 lakh crore in the entire past fiscal.

Besides, the number of issues in the period under review climbed to 214 from 199 in September.

Amid a volatile equity markets, corporate bonds have become popular among investors as it offers lower risk and higher income than shares, market experts said.

Besides, companies have been opting for corporate bonds route to mop-up fresh capital as they are finding the instrument more cheaper than banks, they added.

Of the total funds raised in October, Rs 18,782 was raised by companies listed only on the mop-up fresh capital (NSE), while Rs 14,614 crore were mobilised through issues only on BSE. 

Mid & Small Caps Buck the Trend.

While the Indian equity markets pared their initial losses, they still finished the trading session below the dotted line on fears of deceleration in economic reforms after the BJP led NDA was defeated in the Bihar Assembly polls along with mixed global cues. The BSE-Sensex ended with losses of about 144 points, while the NSE-Nifty closed lower by 39 points. Meanwhile, the BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices ended the day on a positive note with gains of about 0.4% and 0.8% respectively. Losses were largely seen in realty and healthcare stocks.

Asian markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The Nikkei 225 gained 1.96% and the Shanghai Composite rose 1.58%. The Hang Seng lost 0.61%. European markets are mixed. The FTSE 100 is higher by 0.14%, while the CAC 40 is leading the DAX lower. They are down 0.35% and 0.22% respectively. The rupee was trading weak at 66.33 against the US$ in the afternoon session.

Engineering stocks closed on a mixed note. Manugraph India and Bharat Electronics were the leading gainers whilePunj Lloyd and Voltas were the leading losers. According to a leading financial daily, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has entered into an in-principle agreement with Adani Kattupalli Ports (AKPPL), a subsidiary of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ), for strategic sale of Kattupalli Port in Tamil Nadu. The company presently operates both the port and shipyard through its subsidiary, L&T Shipbuilding (LTSB).

The strategic sale is subject to receiving the necessary approvals from the Government of Tamil Nadu and Central Government, and the port being demerged from LTSB. While awaiting the necessary approvals, the company has entered into an arrangement with AKPPL to handover the operations of the port.

L&T has announced the second quarter results of financial year 2015-2016 (2QFY16). The company has reported 10.6% YoY growth in sales while net profits have grown 15.6% YoY. The topline performance was boosted by a good show in the company's power, IT & technology, financial services and developmental projects segments. Here is our analysis of the results and its implications for the future.(Subscription Required)

According to a leading economic daily, Eicher Motors plans to double the manufacturing capacity of its subsidiary Royal Enfield to 900,000 units per annum by 2018 as the company continues to expand its retail footprint in India. The company is already in the process of raising production capacity at its two plants in the outskirts of Chennai to 450,000 units per annum by the end of this year.

The additional capacity will primarily come from the first phase of Royal Enfield's third manufacturing facility at Vallam Vadagal in Tamil Nadu.

The company plans to have 500 dealerships across India in a single unified retail identity. Furthermore, the company is also looking to expand its presence in the international markets as it announced its first direct distribution subsidiary outside India, in North America in August this year. In August, Royal Enfield also announced its entry in Indonesia, the third largest motorcycle market (by volume) in the world.