Indian firms have raised close to Rs 20,000 crore in the first five months of the ongoing fiscal by way of issuance of shares to promoters and shareholders on a preferential basis to meet working capital requirements.
As per data compiled by markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), companies have raked in a total of Rs 19,843 crore in April-August of 2015-16.
This includes Rs 1,788 crore in August 2015, nearly three times higher than Rs 658 crore mobilised in the preceding month.
However, the number of preferential issues fell to 18 last month, from 31 in July.
A large chunk of the funds was raised in the first two months of 2015-16 -- Rs 10,485 crore in April and Rs 5,407 crore in May.
Most of the money has been raised to support working capital requirements, loan repayment and other general corporate purposes.
Firms tap the preferential route through issuance of equity shares, fully or partly convertible debentures or other financial instruments like share warrants which will be converted into or exchanged with equity shares at a later date.
The allotment is done to a select group of investors -- promoters and non-promoters -- on a private placement basis.
