IRFC tax free bonds list on the stock exchanges

The tax-free bonds of the Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC), the financing arm of Indian Railways, made their debut today on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange at a premium.

RFC in January 2012 issued tax free, secured, redeemable, non-convertible bonds of face value of Rs 1,000 each in the nature of debentures, having benefits under Section 10(15)(iv)(h) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, as amended (bonds) aggregating to Rs 3,000 crore with an option to retain oversubscription of upto the shelf limit of Rs 6,300 crore.

These bonds carry a coupon rate of 8.00% p.a for 10 years (ISEC Comment: Series I) and 8.10% p.a for 15 years (ISEC Comment: Series II). An additional coupon rate of 0.15% p.a. and 0.20% p.a. on series 1 and series 2 respectively shall be available to Resident Indian Individuals, Hindu Undivided Families through the Karta and Non Resident Indians on repatriation as well as non-repatriation basis, applying for an amount aggregating upto and including Rs 5 lakh across all series in the tranche (available only to the original allottees).
 
The bonds have been rated 'CRISIL AAA/Stable' by CRISIL, '[ICRA] AAA' by ICRA and 'CARE AAA' by CARE, indicating highest degree of safety for timely servicing of financial obligations.

SBI Capital Markets Limited, A K Capital Services Limited and ICICI Securities Limited are the Lead Managers to the issue. Indian Bank shall be the Trustee to the issue.

The company intends to utilize the Issue proceeds for financing the acquisition of rolling stock and financing the capacity enhancement works in the Indian Railways.