GAIL to raise Rs 1,000 cr through domestic bond issue

NEW DELHI: State-owned gas utility GAIL (India) Ltd today said it will raise Rs 1,000 crore through a domestic bond issuee to part-fund its capital expenditure in the current fiscal.

The nation's largest gas marketing and transmission firm plans to invest Rs 7,500 crore in current fiscal, mostly in pipeline expansion, GAIL Chairman and Managing Director B C Tripathi told reporters here.

The capex in 2013-14 is higher than Rs 6,500 crore investment in the previous financial year.

"Of the planned capex for current year, about Rs 3,500 crore will come from internal resources or accruals. For the rest, we plan to borrow Rs 1,000 crore in next quarter from rupee bond issue and another Rs 1,500 crore through external commercial borrowings (ECB)," he said.

GAIL Director (Finance) P K Jain said Rs 710 crore loan has already been tied-up from Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB) and another Rs 140 crore remains to be drawn from loan approved last year.

So, OIDB will this year lend Rs 850 crore to GAIL, he said adding Rs 575 crore will be borrowed from HDFC.