All about External Commercial Borrowings (ECB)

CS Shikha Mehra

EXTERNAL COMMERCIAL BORROWING

MEANING: –

External Commercial Borrowings (ECB) refer to commercial loans in the form of bank loans, buyers’ credit, suppliers’ credit, securitized instruments (e.g. floating rate notes and fixed rate bonds, non-convertible, optionally convertible or partially convertible preference shares) availed of from non-resident lenders with a minimum average maturity of 3 years.

TYPES OF ROUTES

ECB can be accessed under two routes, viz.,

(i) Automatic Route outlined in paragraph I (A)

(ii) Approval Route

(A) AUTOMATIC ROUTE

The following types of proposals for ECBs are covered under the Automatic Route.

i) Eligible Borrowers

(a)  Corporates, including those in the hotel, hospital, software sectors (registered under the Companies Act, 1956), Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) – Infrastructure Finance Companies (IFCs), NBFCs – Asset Finance companies (AFCs), Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) except financial intermediaries, such as banks, financial institutions (FIs), Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), other than those specifically allowed by Reserve Bank, are eligible to raise ECB. Individuals, Trusts (other than those engaged in Micro-finance activities) and Non-Profit making organizations are not eligible to raise ECB.

(b) Units in Special Economic Zones (SEZ) are allowed to raise ECB for their own requirement. However, they cannot transfer or on-lend ECB funds to sister concerns or any unit in the Domestic Tariff Area (DTA).

(c) NBFCs-IFCs are permitted to avail of ECBs for on-lending to the infrastructure sector as defined under the ECB policy

(d) NBFCs-AFCs are permitted to avail of ECBs for financing the import of infrastructure equipment for leasing to infrastructure projects

(e) Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) engaged in micro finance activities are eligible to avail of ECB.

(f) Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) engaged in micro finance activities are eligible to avail of ECBs. MFIs registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, MFIs registered under Indian Trust Act, 1882, MFIs registered either under the conventional state-level cooperative acts, the national level multi-state cooperative legislation or under the new state-level mutually aided cooperative acts (MACS Act) and not being a co-operative bank, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) categorized as ‘Non Banking Financial Company-Micro Finance Institutions’ (NBFCMFIs) and complying with the norms prescribed as per circular DNBS.CC.PD.No. 250/03.10.01/2011-12 dated December 02, 2011 and Companies registered under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 and are involved in micro finance activities.

(g) NGOs engaged in micro finance and MFIs registered as societies, trusts and cooperatives and engaged in micro finance (i) should have a satisfactory borrowing relationship for at least 3 years with a scheduled commercial bank authorized to deal in foreign exchange in India and (ii) would require a certificate of due diligence on `fit and proper’ status of the Board/ Committee of management of the borrowing entity from the designated AD bank.

(h) Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) can avail of ECB for onlending to MSME sector, as defined under the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (MSMED) Act, 2006. (as amended vide AP DIR Circular No.48 dated 6.11.2012)

(i) Corporates in the services sector viz. hotels, hospitals and software sector.

(j) Companies in miscellaneous services sector (only from overseas direct / indirect equity holders and group companies). Companies in miscellaneous services mean companies engaged in training activities (but not educational institutes), research and development activities and companies supporting infrastructure sector. Companies doing trading business, companies providing logistics services, financial services and consultancy services are, however, not covered under the facility

(k) Holding Companies / Core Investment Companies (CICs) coming under the regulatory framework of the Reserve Bank are permitted to raise ECB for project use in Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) provided the business activity of the SPV is in the infrastructure sector where “infrastructure” is defined as per the extant ECB guidelines. The infrastructure project is required to be implemented by the SPV established exclusively for implementing the project and is subject to conditions. In case of Holding Companies that come under the Core Investment Company (CIC) regulatory framework of the Reserve Bank, the ECB availed should be within the ceiling of leverage stipulated for CICs and in case of CICs with asset size below Rs. 100 crore, the ECB availed of should be on fully hedged basis.

ii) Recognised Lenders

Borrowers can raise ECB from internationally recognized sources, such as (a) international banks, (b) international capital markets, (c) multilateral financial institutions (such as IFC, ADB, CDC, etc.) / regional financial institutions and Government owned development financial institutions, (d) export credit agencies, (e) suppliers of equipments, (f) foreign collaborators and (g) foreign equity holders [other than erstwhile Overseas Corporate Bodies (OCBs)].

MINIMUM REQUIREMENT FOR FOREIGN EQUITY HOLDER

A “foreign equity holder” to be eligible as “recognized lender” under the automatic route would require minimum holding of paid-up equity in the borrower company as set out below:

i. For ECB up to USD 5 million – minimum paid-up equity of 25 per cent held directly by the lender (all outstanding ECBs including the proposed one),

ii. For ECB more than USD 5 million – minimum paid-up equity of 25 per cent held directly by the lender and ECB liability-equity ratio not exceeding 4:1

ECB from indirect equity holders is permitted provided the indirect equity holding in the Indian company by the lender is at least 51 per cent.

ECB from a group company is permitted provided both the borrower and the foreign lender are subsidiaries of the same parent

Besides the paid-up capital, free reserves (including the share premium received in foreign currency) as per the latest audited balance sheet shall be reckoned for the purpose of calculating the ‘equity’ of the foreign equity holder in the term ECB liability-equity ratio. Where there are more than one foreign equity holders in the borrowing company, the portion of the share premium in foreign currency brought in by the lender(s) concerned shall only be considered for calculating the ECB liability-equity ratio for reckoning quantum of permissible ECB.

For calculating the ‘ECB liability’, not only the proposed borrowing but also the outstanding ECB from the same foreign equity holder lender shall be reckoned    

FORMALITIES OF OVERSEAS ORGANISATIONS /INDIVIDUALS BEFORE LENDING

Overseas organizations and individuals providing ECB need to comply with the following safeguards:

I.  Overseas Organizations proposing to lend ECB would have to furnish to the AD bank of the borrower a certificate of due diligence from an overseas bank, which, in turn, is subject to regulation of host-country regulator and adheres to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidelines.

The certificate of due diligence should comprise the following

(i) that the lender maintains an account with the bank for at least a period of two years,

(ii) that the lending entity is organised as per the local laws and held in good esteem by the business/local community and

(iii) that there is no criminal action pending against it.

II. Individual Lender has to obtain a certificate of due diligence from an overseas bank indicating that the lender maintains an account with the bank for at least a period of two years. Other evidence /documents such as audited statement of account and income tax return, which the overseas lender may furnish, need to be certified and forwarded by the overseas bank. Individual lenders from countries wherein banks are not required to adhere to Know Your Customer (KYC) guidelines are not eligible to extend ECB.

AMOUNT

(i) The maximum amount of ECB which can be raised by a corporate other than those in the hotel, hospital and software sectors, and corporate in miscellaneous services sector is USD 750 million or its equivalent during a financial year

(ii) Corporates in the services sector hotels, hospitals and software sector and miscellaneous services sector are allowed to avail of ECB up to USD 200 million or its equivalent in a financial year for meeting foreign currency and/ or Rupee capital expenditure for permissible end-uses. The proceeds of the ECBs should not be used for acquisition of land

MATURITY

(i) ECB up to USD 20 million or its equivalent in a financial year with minimum average maturity of three years.

(ii) ECB above USD 20 million or equivalent and up to USD 750 million or its equivalent with a minimum average maturity of five years

(iii) ECB up to USD 20 million or equivalent can have call/put option provided the minimum average maturity of three years is complied with before exercising call/put option                

ALL-IN COST CEILING

All-in-cost includes rate of interest, other fees and expenses in foreign currency except commitment fee, pre-payment fee, and fees payable in Indian Rupees. The payment of withholding tax in Indian Rupees is excluded for calculating the all-in cost.

The existing all-in-cost ceilings for ECB are as under:

Average Maturity Period	All-in-cost Ceilings over 6 month LIBOR*
Three years and up to five years	350 basis points
More than five years	500 basis points

for the respective currency of borrowing or applicable benchmark

In the case of fixed rate loans, the swap cost plus margin should be the equivalent of the floating rate plus the applicable margin.

The rate of penal interest should not be more than 2 per cent of the all-in-cost of ECB.

END USE

1. ECB can be raised for investment such as import of capital goods (as classified by DGFT in the Foreign Trade Policy), new projects, modernization/expansion of existing production units in real sector – industrial sector including small and medium enterprises (SME), infrastructure sector and specified service sectors, viz. hotel, hospital and software and miscellaneous services sector as given at I(A)(i)(j) above.

Infrastructure sector is defined as

(a) Energy which will include (i) electricity generation, (ii) electricity transmission, (iii) electricity distribution, (iv) oil pipelines, (v) oil/gas/liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage facility (includes strategic storage of crude oil) and (vi) gas pipelines (includes city gas distribution network);

(b) Communication which will include (i) mobile telephony services / companies providing cellular services, (ii) fixed network telecommunication (includes optic fibre / cable networks which provide broadband / internet) and (iii) telecommunication towers;

(c) Transport which will include (i) railways (railway track, tunnel, viaduct, bridges and includes supporting terminal infrastructure such as loading / unloading terminals, stations and buildings), (ii) roads and bridges, (iii) ports, (iv) inland waterways, (v) airport and (vi) urban public transport (except rolling stock in case of urban road transport);

(d) Water and sanitation which will include (i) water supply pipelines, (ii) solid waste management, (iii) water treatment plants, (iv) sewage projects (sewage collection, treatment and disposal system), (v) irrigation (dams, channels, embankments, etc.) and (vi) storm water drainage system;

(e) (i) mining, (ii) exploration and (iii) refining;

(f) Social and commercial infrastructure which will include (i) hospitals (capital stock and includes medical colleges and para medical training institutes), (ii) Hotel Sector which will include hotels with fixed capital investment of Rs. 200 crore and above, convention centres with fixed capital investment of Rs. 300 crore and above and three star or higher category classified hotels located outside cities with population of more than 1 million (fixed capital investment is excluding of land value), (iii) common infrastructure for industrial parks, SEZs, tourism facilities, (iv) fertilizer (capital investment), (v) post harvest storage infrastructure for agriculture and horticulture produce including cold storage, (vi) soil testing laboratories and (vii) cold chain (includes cold room facility for farm level pre-cooling, for preservation or storage or agriculture and allied produce, marine products and meat.

2. Overseas Direct Investment in Joint Ventures (JV)/ Wholly Owned Subsidiaries (WOS) subject to the existing guidelines on Indian Direct Investment in JV/ WOS abroad

3. Utilization of ECB proceeds is permitted for first stage as well as subsequent stages of acquisition of shares in the disinvestment process to the public under the Government’s disinvestment programme of PSU shares

4. Interest during Construction (IDC) for Indian companies which are in the infrastructure sector, where “infrastructure” is defined as per the extant ECB guidelines, subject to IDC being capitalized and forming part of the project cost

5. For on-lending to self-help groups or for micro-credit or for bonafide micro finance activity including capacity building by NGOs engaged in micro finance activities.

6. Maintenance and operations of toll systems for roads and highways for capital expenditure provided they form part of the original project

7. ECB for general corporate purposes from direct foreign equity holders by companies in manufacturing, infrastructure, hotels, hospitals and software sector:

Eligible borrowers can avail ECB from their direct foreign equity holder company with a minimum average maturity of 7 years for general corporate purposes (which includes working capital) subject to the following conditions:

i. Minimum paid-up equity of 25 per cent should be held directly by the lender;

ii. Such ECBs would not be used for any purpose not permitted under extant the ECB guidelines (including on-lending to their group companies / step-down subsidiaries in India); and Repayment of the principal shall commence only after completion of minimum average maturity of 7 years

iii. No prepayment will be allowed before maturity

8. Payment for Spectrum Allocation:

(A) Relaxation for the successful Bidders of 2G spectrum Re-auction

(i) to make the upfront payment initially out of Rupee loans availed of from the domestic lenders and refinance such Rupee loans with a long-term ECB provided such ECB is raised within a period of 18 months from the date of sanction of such Rupee loans for the stated purpose from the domestic lenders.

(ii) Availing of short term foreign currency loan in the nature of bridge finance for the purpose of making upfront payment and replace the same with a long term ECB subject to condition that the long term ECB is raised within a period of 18 months from the date of drawdown of the bridge finance.

(iii) ECB can be availed of from their ultimate parent company without any maximum ECB liability-equity ratio subject to the condition that the lender holds minimum paid-up equity of 25 per cent in the borrower company, either directly or indirectly.

(iv) Such ECB cannot be raised from overseas branches / subsidiaries of Indian banks

END USE NOT PERMITTED

Other than the purposes specified hereinabove, the borrowings shall not be utilized for any other purpose including the following purposes, namely:

(a) For on-lending or investment in capital market or acquiring a company (or a part thereof) in India by a corporate [investment in Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), Money Market Mutual Funds (MMMFs), etc., are also considered as investment in capital markets].

(b) for real estate sector,

(c) for general corporate purpose which includes working capital (other than what has been given at I(A)(v)(l) above) and repayment of existing rupee loans

Note: The proceeds of the ECBs should not be used for acquisition of land.

Issuance of guarantee, standby letter of credit, letter of undertaking or letter of comfort by banks, Financial Institutions and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) from India relating to ECB is not permitted

SECURITY AGAINST LOAN

The choice of security to be provided to the overseas lender / supplier for securing ECB is left to the borrower. AD Category-I banks may allow creation of charge on immovable assets, movable assets, financial securities and issue of corporate and / or personal guarantees in favour of overseas lender / security trustee, to secure the ECB to be raised / raised by the borrower, subject to satisfying themselves that: –

i. the underlying ECB is in compliance with the extant ECB guidelines,

ii. there exists a security clause in the Loan Agreement requiring the ECB borrower to create charge, in favour of overseas lender / security trustee, on immovable assets / movable assets / financial securities / issuance of corporate and / or personal guarantee,

iii. No objection certificate, wherever necessary, from the existing lenders in India has been obtained.

Once aforesaid stipulations are met, the AD Category-I bank may permit creation of charge on immovable assets, movable assets, financial securities and issue of corporate and / or personal guarantees, during the currency of the ECB with security co-terminating with underlying ECB, subject to the following:

(a) Creation of Charge on immovable assets:

i. Such security shall be subject to provisions contained in the Foreign Exchange Management (Acquisition and Transfer of Immovable Property in India) Regulations, 2000

ii. The permission should not be construed as a permission to acquire immovable asset (property) in India, by the overseas lender / security trustee.

iii. In the event of enforcement / invocation of the charge, the immovable asset / property will have to be sold only to a person resident in India and the sale proceeds shall be repatriated to liquidate the outstanding ECB

(b) Creation of Charge on Movable Assets

In the event of enforcement / invocation of the charge, the claim of the lender, whether the lender takes over the movable asset or otherwise, will be restricted to the outstanding claim against the ECB. Encumbered movable assets may also be taken out of the country.

(c) Creation of Charge over Financial Securities

i. Pledge of shares of the borrowing company held by the promoters as well as in domestic associate companies of the borrower will be permitted. Pledge on other financial securities, viz. bonds and debentures, Government Securities, Government Savings Certificates, deposit receipts of securities and units of the Unit Trust of India or of any mutual funds, standing in the name of ECB borrower/promoter, will also be permitted.

ii. In addition, security interest over all current and future loan assets and all current assets including cash and cash equivalents, including Rupee accounts of the borrower with AD Category-I banks in India, standing in the name of the borrower/promoter, can be used as security for ECB. The Rupee accounts of the borrower/promoter can also be in the form of escrow arrangement or debt service reserve account

iii. In case of invocation of pledge, transfer of financial securities shall be in accordance with the extant FDI/FII policy including provisions relating to sectoral cap and pricing as applicable read with the Foreign Exchange Management (Transfer or Issue of Security by a Person Resident outside India) Regulations, 2000

(d) Issue of Corporate or Personal Guarantee

i. A copy of Board Resolution for the issue of corporate guarantee for the company issuing such guarantee, specifying name of the officials authorised to execute such guarantees on behalf of the company or in individual capacity should be obtained.

ii. Specific requests from individuals to issue personal guarantee indicating details of the ECB should be obtained.

PROCEDURE

1. Applicants are required to submit an application in form ECB through designated AD bank to the Principal Chief General Manager, Foreign Exchange Department, Reserve Bank of India, Central Office, External Commercial Borrowings Division, Mumbai – 400 001, along with necessary documents

2. Borrowers may enter into loan agreement complying with the ECB guidelines with recognised lender for raising ECB under the Automatic Route without the prior approval of the Reserve Bank. The borrower must obtain a Loan Registration Number (LRN) from the Reserve Bank of India before drawing down the ECB. The procedure for obtaining LRN is detailed as:

i. For allotment of Loan Registration Number (LRN), borrowers are required to submit Form 83, in duplicate, certified by the Company Secretary (CS) or Chartered Accountant (CA) to the designated AD bank. One copy is to be forwarded by the designated AD bank to the Director, Balance of Payments Statistics Division, Department of Statistics and Information Management (DSIM), Reserve Bank of India, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Mumbai – 400 051(Note: copies of loan agreement and offer documents for FCCB are not required to be submitted with Form 83).

ii. The borrower can draw-down the loan only after obtaining the LRN from DSIM, Reserve Bank.

iii. Borrowers are required to submit ECB-2 Return certified by the designated AD bank on monthly basis so as to reach DSIM, Reserve Bank within seven working days from the close of month to which it relates.

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