Indian firms had raised Rs 618 crore through rights issue in the first six months of the current fiscal, a plunge of 92 per cent from the year-ago level.

The funds have been raised for business expansion plans, refinancing of debt and to meet the working capital requirements.

In the rights issue mode, shares are issued to existing investors at a pre-determined price, normally at a discount, in proportion to their holdings.

Companies had garnered Rs 618 crore in the April-September period of 2016-17 against Rs 7,760 crore raised in the same period a year-ago, according to the latest data available with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

In terms of numbers, three issues were witnessed during the period under review compared with 6 in the first six months of last fiscal (2015-16).

Market experts said that firms have opted for other fund raising avenues like IPOs and debt markets rather than rights issue in the period under review.

Individually, firms did not raise any capital through the rights issue route in April, June and July, while they raised Rs 75 crore in May, Rs 500 crore in August and Rs 43 crore in September.

In the entire past fiscal, companies mopped-up Rs 9,239 crore, which was the highest fund mobilisation in five financial years. The huge fund-raising was primarily driven by Tata Motors’ rights issue, which alone raked in Rs 7,498 crore.

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