PFC mops up Rs 354 cr from bond market

New Delhi, Nov 19: Power Finance Corporation (PFC) has mopped up Rs 354 crore from the bond market last week taking its total borrowing to over Rs 1,970 crore during the current financial year.

“We have raised Rs 354 crore with an over-subscription of Rs 104 crore from the bond market at a coupon rate of 9.70,” Mr A Krishnamoorthy, director (finance), PFC, told PTI, adding that the corporation has decided to retain the oversubscription. With the corporation’s emphasis on tapping individual companies’ provident and pension funds, PFC collected nearly Rs 100 crore from various provident funds.

Coal miners’ pension and provident fund invested Rs 40 crore in the bond issue, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) provident fund Rs 10 crore, National Insurance Pension and Provident Fund Rs 13 crore. “Since the Central Board of Trustees for provident fund has already had an exposure of about Rs 800 crore in the PFC’s bonds, we decided to tap individual companies’ funds and the response was quite positive,” he added. National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) also purchased bonds worth Rs 4 crore and State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur put Rs 5 crore in the issue.

— PTI