Last Updated 9th March, 2000

Contents
1. Definition
2. Annual cap
3. Priority and allocation
4. Maturity specifications
5. Interest rates
6. Who can raise how much
7. End use
8. Other terms and conditions
9. Management
10. Credit Enhancement
11. Procedure

The following combines guidelines issued on 19th June '96 and changes made thereafter, upto 5th May '99.

Definition

External Commercial Borrowings (ECB) are defined to include

1. commercial bank loans,
2. buyer’s credit,
3. supplier’s credit,
4. securitised instruments such as floating rate notes, fixed rate bonds etc.,
5. credit from official export credit agencies,
6. commercial borrowings from the private sector window of multilateral financial institutions such as IFC, ADB, AFIC, CDC etc. and
7. Investment by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) in dedicated debt funds

Applicants will be free to raise ECB from any internationally recognised source like banks, export credit agencies, suppliers of equipment, foreign collaborations, foreign equity - holders, international capital markets etc. Offers from unrecognised sources will not be entertained.