THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Financial Corporation raised Rs 307 crore through Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs). The 10-year term bond was raised through the BSE Electronic Book Platform (EBP) at a coupon rate of 8.89 per cent.
The funds from the latest issue will be utilised for financing projects to promote the MSME sector of the state. The corporation also plans to raise further funds to the tune of nearly Rs 700 crore from the bond market in the next financial year.
The corporation stated that it could raise funds at a better rate than the major public sector banks and PSUs because it had AA Credit rating from RBI and SEBI-approved rating agencies. KFC is among the rare state PSUs which have an AA rating.
According to Sanjay Kaul, chairman and managing director of the corporation, KFC enjoys the confidence of the market as is evident from the fund mobilisation through NCDs. “The lower coupon and strong demand from investors show the market confidence in the financial strength of KFC. It is the success of our sustainability-driven strategy,” he said.
Recently, the state government had infused Rs 100 crore capital to the corporation raising its net worth to above Rs 1,000 crore. The corporation has been raising funds based on the strength of its balance sheet, without government guarantees since 2016.
As part of its support programmes for the MSME sector, the KFC had launched the Kerala MSME Bill Discounting Platform. It is aimed to ensure liquidity to MSMEs by discounting their outstanding bills from the government. The corporation launched the platform in association with Receivables Exchange of India Limited (RXIL), an RBI-approved company. RXIL is a joint venture of the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and National Stock Exchange of India (NSE).