IOC to raise Rs 3,000 crore via bond issue

New Delhi: Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the nation's biggest oil firm, plans to raise Rs 3,000 crore in rupee borrowings this month to meet its general corporate financing needs, IOC Director (Finance) Sandeep Kumar Gupta said on Tuesday.

"We plan to raise through a rupee denominated bonds issue up to Rs 3,000 crore. A similar amount may be raised later in the financial year," he said here.

The bond issue will be of Rs 1,000 crore with a greenshoe option of another Rs 2,000 crore, he said and added that "we may retain or not retain over-subscription of up to Rs 2,000 crore."

The bond issue will be of 10-year tenure. IOC plans to utilise the money for general corporate financing, he said adding the company had a borrowing of Rs 81,000 crore at the end of September quarter.

The company is aggressively expanding refining and petrochemical capacity and laying infrastructure to meet rising energy demand in the country.

"We had a planned capital spending of Rs 25,000 crore during current fiscal. Of this, about Rs 8,000 crore was spent till August-end and another Rs 1,500 crore would have been done in September," he said expressing confidence of fully spending the planned capex by March 2020.

The company, which subsidises cooking gas LPG and PDS kerosene, is yet to receive Rs 9,700 crore from the government in unpaid subsidises.