India to ease external commercial borrowing norms

Hit by tightening liquidity conditions in domestic market, India has decided to ease the external commercial borrowing norms for infrastructure companies and other corporate houses.
The government has raised the limit of overseas commercial borrowing by infrastructure companies from US$20 million to US$100 million in foreign currency for its Indian Rupee expenditure in India.
In case of other borrowers, the existing ceiling of US$20 million for Rupee expenditure has been hiked to 50 million dollars.
The government has also raised the rate of interest limit up to that at which a borrower can raise funds in international markets.
The measures come as a big relief for the Indian industry, which grew merely three per cent in March this year--the slowest in six years--amidst a tight domestic monetary policy to contain inflation that has pushed up the interest rates, making domestic borrowing costlier.