March 2006

Issue of Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds and Ordinary Shares (Through Depositary Receipt Mechanism) Scheme, 1993

India's External debt for the Quarter end-December 2005 [Hindi]

Amendment to Senior Citizens Savings Scheme, 2004

Sale (Re-issue) of “7.40 per cent Government Stock, 2035” to  Reserve Bank of India on private placement basis

Issue of  7.33  per cent oil Marketing Companies’ Government of India Special Bonds, 2009, 7.47 per cent oil Marketing Companies’ Government of India Special Bonds, 2012 and 7.61 per cent oil Marketing Companies’ Government of India Special Bonds, 2015  [Hindi]

“Issue of Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds and Ordinary Shares (Through Depositary Receipt Mechanism) Scheme, 1993”           

            A Scheme for issue of Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds and Ordinary Shares (Through Depositary Receipt Mechanism) Scheme was notified by the Government of India on 12^th November, 1993 .  Revisions/modifications in the operative guidelines of the Scheme have been made from time to time.  

2.         In order to bring the ADR/GDR guidelines in alignment with SEBI’s guidelines on domestic capital issues, amendment to the “Issue of Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds and Ordinary Shares (Through Depositary Receipt Mechanism) Scheme, 1993,” was made on 31^st August, 2005 .  

3.         Vide Press Note of 31^st August, 2005 , Government stipulated the Eligibility condition for issuer and subscriber under this scheme. Pricing guidelines are also brought on par with SEBI guidelines for domestic issues.  Press Note of 31^st August, 2005, also stipulates that the Unlisted companies, which had issued GDRs/FCCBs in the international market, would require to list in the domestic market on making profit beginning financial year 2005-06 or within three years of such issue of GDRs/FCCBs, whichever is earlier.  

4.         Post issue of Press Note of 31^st August, 2005, representations from Industry have been received for exemption from listing requirement for unlisted companies, which had issued GDRs/FCCBs under previous guidelines.  

5.         The above request has been examined in Government and it has been decided that Unlisted companies which had accessed FCCBs, ADR/GDRs in terms of guidelines of 22^nd May 1998 and are not making profit, be permitted to comply with listing condition on the domestic stock exchanges within three years of having started making profit. However, no fresh issues of FCCBs, ADR/GDRs by such companies will be permitted without listing first in the domestic exchanges.  

7.         All other conditions contained in the amendment dated 31^st August, 2005 including that for (i) eligibility of issuer and  (ii) eligibility of subscriber would continue to be applicable to all companies.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

F.No.15/4/2004-NRI                                      New Delhi, dated the 31^st  March, 2006.  

            The Press Information Bureau is requested to give wide publicity to this Press Note. 

                                                                                           (M. Prasad)               

Joint Secretary to the Government of India

Press Information Officer,
Press Information Bureau,
Shastri Bhavan, New Delhi .

India's External debt for the Quarter end-December 2005

As at the end of December 2005, India's external debt stock at US$119.2 billion showed a decline  of US$5.0 billion as compared to US$124.2 billion at end-September 2005 (Table). The contraction in external debt outstanding at end-December 2005 was essentially brought about by a drop in external commercial borrowings reflecting redemption of India Millennium Deposits (IMDs) of US$5.5 billion in December 2005.

             Component-wise, long-term debt outstanding at US$110.3 billion at end-December 2005 showed a fall of US$5.49 billion over the quarter due to lower stock of commercial borrowings mainly reflecting repayment of IMDs. Short-term debt increased by 6.3 percent over the quarter to US$8,931 million on account of a rise in trade credits. Increase in trade credits was attributed to larger import growth during the current fiscal year so far.

            As regards their share in total debt stock, Non-Resident deposits accounted for 27.9 percent of the total debt at end-December 2005. Multilateral debt constituted 26.7 per cent followed by commercial borrowings at 18.8 per cent. The share of bilateral debt was 13.0 per cent. Export credit and Rupee debt accounted for 4.3 percent and 1.7 per cent, respectively. The share of short-term debt was 7.5 per cent.

            India ’s foreign currency reserves including foreign currency assets of the RBI, gold, SDRs and Reserve Tranche Position in the International Monetary Fund stood at US$137.2 billion as at the end of December 2005.  Foreign currency assets of the RBI were of the order of US$131.0 billion as on December 31, 2005 providing a cover of around 110 per cent to total external debt stock.

            US dollar continues to be the major currency of denomination in India ’s external debt portfolio. The share of US dollar in the debt stock of the country has, however, declined from 54.3 per cent at end-March 2002 to 44.6 per cent at end-December 2005.  

            The external debt management policy of the Government continues to be one of caution,  focusing on raising loans from least expensive sources preferably with longer maturity profiles, accelerating growth of exports, monitoring of short-term debt, keeping commercial debt under manageable limits and encouraging non-debt creating capital flows.

The complete text of this report is available on the Ministry of Finance Website:
http://www.finmin.nic.in

F. No. 1(10)/ 2006-EDMU
New Delhi March 31,2006 .

Amendment to Senior Citizens Savings Scheme, 2004

As a measure for further facilitation of Senior Citizens under the Senior Citizens Savings Scheme 2004, the depositors can now transfer their accounts from one deposit office (Post Office/Bank) to another, without application of the condition of change of residence.  A small transfer fee of Rs.5 per lakh on deposits of one lakh and above will be payable for the first transfer.  If subsequent transfers are availed of, a transfer fee of Rs.10 per lakh on deposits of one lakh and above would be payable.  Earlier such transfers of Accounts were allowed only in case of change of residence of the depositor.  The present amendment is intended to provide greater flexibility to the senior citizens in choosing a more conveniently located deposit office as also one that offers good service.

Sale (Re-issue) of “7.40 per cent Government Stock, 2035” to  Reserve Bank of India on private placement basis

Government of India vide notification F.No.4(2)-W&M/2005 dated March 6, 2006have announced in consultation with the reserve bank of India, the  sale (re-issue) of “7.40 per cent Government Stock 2035” to Reserve Bank of India for a notified amount of Rs. 10,000 crore on a private placement basis. The Stock shall be issued to the Reserve Bank of India on March 6, 2006 at a price of Rs 95.72 for Rs. 100.00 (nominal).

2.   Furthermore, on a reassessment of the cash balance position the Government of India has decided not to undertake any further issuance of Government of India dated securities during the fiscal 2005-06.


Government of India  
Ministry of Finance
Department of Economic Affairs
New Delhi dated  March 6, 2006

Issue of  7.33  per cent oil Marketing Companies’ Government of India Special Bonds, 2009, 7.47 per cent oil Marketing Companies’ Government of India Special Bonds, 2012 and 7.61 per cent oil Marketing Companies’ Government of India Special Bonds, 2015


Government of India have announced the issue of ‘ 7.33  per cent Oil Marketing Companies’ Government of India Special Bonds, 2009 for Rs.2,000 crore (nominal), 7.47 per cent Oil Marketing Companies’ Government of India Special Bonds, 2012 for Rs.2,000 crore (nominal) and 7.61 per cent  Oil Marketing Companies’ Government of India Special Bonds, 2015 for Rs.1750 crore(nominal).  The Special bonds are being issued to three Oil Marketing Companies to compensate them for under-recoveries in their domestic LPG and Kerosene (PDS) operations during the current financial year.  The Special Bonds will be issued at par to Indian Oil Corporation Limited.(IOCL) for Rs.3,449.07 crore, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) for Rs.1,100.81crore and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) for Rs.1,200.12 crore on March 7, 2006 (Tuesday). 

2.    The investment in the Special Bonds will not be reckoned as an eligible investment for purpose of Statutory Liquidity ratio (SLR).

3.    The Special bonds will be transferable and eligible for market ready forward transactions (Repo).  The bonds, however, will not be an eligible underlying security for ready forward transactions (Repo/Reverse repo) with the Reserve Bank of India .

Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Economic Affairs
New Delhi
Dated the March 7, 2006