Companies garner Rs 17,000 crore via institutional placement

NEW DELHI: Indian companies have mopped-up close to Rs 17,000 crore through institutional placement in the first four months of the 2014-15 fiscal, primarily to support working capital needs.

The figure is already much higher than Rs 13,663 crore that was raised through the Qualified institutional placements (QIPs) route in the entire 2013-14.

Many more firms have lined-up plans to raise capital through QIP in the current fiscal.

According to the latest information available with the stock exchanges, companies have raised Rs 16,848 crore from 14 QIP issues during the April-July period.

This includes a staggering Rs 9,690 crore raised through 8 QIPs in July, and Rs 6,342 crore garnered via three issues in June. Besides, firms had mopped-up Rs 816 crore in May and there was no fund raising in April.

Most of the firms have raked in funds to meet working capital requirements and expansion plans.

Interestingly, most of the fund raising through QIP route have taken place after the General election verdict was announced in mid-May, indicating the revival of investor sentiment backed by a strong secondary market.

Moreover, companies are opting QIP route as the IPO ( initial public offer) market has not revved up yet.

The robust fund-raising is in line with the BSE's benchmark index, Sensex climbing by more than 15 per cent during the period under review (April-July).