Indian firms` external commercial borrowings (ECBs) in April went up more than three-fold to $1.30 billion, while ECBs were at $304.57 million in the same month of 2016, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said.

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According to RBI data released on Thursday, the borrowings by Indian companies in April this year included $1.27 billion through the automatic route, and $39.26 million via the approval route.

During the month in consideration, Indian firms also made additional borrowing of $394.53 million through rupee denominated bonds (RDBs), which have been permitted from September last year.

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In the category of automatic route, JSW Steel took a loan of $500 million for overseas acquisition and refinancing of earlier ECB, while HPCL-Mittal Energy raised $372 million to pay-off earlier ECB.

A substantial portion of ECBs in April was taken to start new projects.

Under the approval route, Essar Shipping was the only company, which raised $39.26 million for import of capital goods.

The firms which floated rupee denominated bonds overseas were - $310 million by NTPC for power, $62 million by Nissan Renault Financial Services for on-lending and $22.48 million by UCWeb Mobile for general corporate purpose.