National Housing Bank is looking at raising $200 million through external commercial borrowings (ECB) in the next 10 days, said RV Verma, chairman and managing director, on Thursday. The fund-raising will take place under the affordable housing scheme, which allows housing finance companies, including NHB, to raise funds through ECBs, with a ceiling of $1 billion each for 2013-14 and 2014-15.
The housing finance regulator has applied for an approval with the RBI and is expecting a response within a day or two. Verma expects the coupon rate for the issue to be 150-160 basis points over Libor.
“LIC Housing Finance and PNB Housing Finance have also applied for overseas fund-raising under the affordable housing scheme,” Verma told reporters.
NHB?will exhaust its $1 billion for this financial year with this issue. “We have $1 billion dollars limit for FY15 too,” Verma confirmed.
Earlier this month, Housing Development Finance Corporation raised $300 million through the ECB market at a coupon rate of 175 bps over Libor.