The finance ministry cleared external commercial borrowings (ECBs) amounting to $7.4 billion till December 31, 1996 as against an internal cap of $7.5 billion for the year, according to the annual report of the finance ministry.
The bulk of the allocation has been cornered by the power sector ($1.4 billion) followed by petroleum ($605 million), telecoms ($207 million) and shipping ($155 million).
Term lending institutions have together received an ECB allocation of $1 billion and export-oriented units $215 million.
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The total ECB approvals for corporates in 1995-96 amounted to $6.2 billion, including $616 million for the power sector, $1.8 billion to financial institutions and $190 million for 100 per cent export units.
The gross disbursement against ECB amounted to $2.67 billion in 1994-95 and $ 3.3 billion in 1995-96. Gross disbursements in 1996-97 against ECBs amounted to $1.7 billion till September 1996.
The disbursed and outstanding debt on account of ECBs, which stood at $18.04 billion as on March 1995, had declined to $17.49 billion on March 31, 1996.