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Mining conglomerate Vedanta Resources has raised $500 million through the sale of a seven-year US dollar-denominated bond issue, which was oversubscribed three times. Vedanta Resources Finance II plc, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources, said in an exchange filing that its $500 million bond issue attracted bids exceeding $1.6 billion, more than triple the issue size. The net proceeds from the offering will be used to repay existing debt and for general corporate purposes. With this offering, Vedanta has raised $3.6 billion from international bond markets in the last 14 months and, in the process, ensured a spread-out debt maturity profile. "The bonds received final orders of over $1.6 billion, recording more than 3x oversubscription from existing as well as a new set of investors across APAC, EMEA and the US, with 97 per cent participation from asset managers/fund managers, highlighting the confidence of investors in the Vedanta story," the statement said. The final allocation of the Bonds reflected the broad-based support which Vedanta enjoys, including 47 per cent from Asia, 24 per cent from EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), and 29 per cent from the US. "The bonds are expected, on the closing date, to be rated 'B2' by Moody's Ratings, a division of Moody's Inc. and 'B+' by Fitch Ratings Limited," Vedanta Resources said. The move is a part of Vedanta Group's broader deleveraging and liquidity management exercise, where it is retiring its high-cost debt with low-cost instruments having a longer maturity, thus elongating its gross debt maturity profile. It comes at a time when Vedanta Resources and its subsidiary Vedanta Ltd are generating steady cash flows from their diversified business and also gaining from cost leadership across commodities. Vedanta Resources delivered a strong financial performance in FY25, clocking a revenue of USD 18.2 billion, up 6.4 per cent on a yearly basis. The company recorded an EBITDA of USD 5.5 billion, with a margin of 29.9 per cent, while the free cash flow post capex was USD 1 billion. Vedanta Resources has reduced its debt by more than USD 4 billion since FY22, with total gross debt falling from $9.1 billion in fiscal 2022 to $4.8 billion as of June 2025. The company has also focused on consolidating its debt, which has helped in creating a robust capital structure, providing it a strong access to capital markets across the group and longer tenor issuances. As a part of this, it has diversified its credit profile through a mix of bonds and bank loans, while adding new banks to its capital structure. International credit rating agencies have taken note of Vedanta Resources' sustainable capital structure, with Fitch, Moody's and S&P Global maintaining a stable outlook on the bonds issued by the company. Citigroup, Barclays, JP Morgan, Mashreq, SMBC Nikko and Standard Chartered Bank are acting as joint global coordinators and managers on the bond issue, which closes on October 15.

Shares of infrastructure financing stocks such as HUDCO, Ireda, REC and Power Finance Corporation (PFC) rose over 5% on Wednesday, October 1, after the Reserve Bank of India announced a slew of measures to make infrastructure financing more efficient.Governor Sanjay Malhotra, during the RBI MPC meeting earlier today, said risk weights on NBFC lending to operational, high-quality infrastructure projects would be reduced, helping lower the cost of financing for the sector.The move is part of a larger set of 22 regulatory measures announced by the RBI to bolster the resilience and competitiveness of banks and NBFCs, ease credit flow, streamline regulations, and strengthen consumer protection. Lowering risk weights is expected to reduce capital requirements for lenders, which in turn could make borrowing cheaper for infrastructure projects.HUDCO shares touched an intraday high of Rs 235, up 5% from the last close on the NSE. Shares of Ireda gained as much as 4% to their day high of Rs 155.37 per share. REC stock rose 4.6% to a high of Rs 390.3, whereas PFC scaled a high of Rs 426.4, marking a 4% uptick from the previous close.During his speech, Malhotra said growth-inflation dynamics have shifted since the August policy, with the rationalisation of GST expected to have a cooling effect on price pressures. The overall inflation outlook has turned more benign, helped by a sharp fall in food prices. Consequently, the central bank has revised its average headline inflation forecast for FY26 downward to 2.6% from 3.1% earlier, while also trimming the estimate for the fourth quarter.The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on Wednesday voted unanimously to keep the repo rate unchanged at 5.5% while maintaining a neutral stance. The Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) and Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rates were also left unchanged at 5.25% and 5.75%, respectively.The MPC flagged global uncertainties and tariff-related developments as potential drags on growth this year.Also read: Half of 80 listings in red: India's Rs 35,000 crore IPO bash leaves investors with a hangoverDespite these risks, domestic economic momentum remains strong. Reflecting this resilience, the RBI raised its FY26 GDP growth forecast to 6.8% from 6.5% previously, while revising quarterly estimates — growth for Q2 FY26 was raised to 7% from 6.7%, while projections for Q3 and Q4 were cut to 6.4% and 6.2% respectively. The GDP growth estimate for Q1 FY27 was lowered to 6.4% from 6.6%.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

Bajaj Auto on Wednesday said that it reported a 9% year-on-year growth in total sales, including exports, to 5,10,504 units in September.The automobile manufacturer had posted total sales of 4,69,531 vehicles in September 2024, Bajaj Auto said in a regulatory filing.Total domestic sales, including commercial vehicles, stood at 3,25,252 units in September 2025, compared to 3,11,887 units in the year-ago period, reporting a growth of 4%.Exports jumped 18% to 1,85,252 vehicles, from 1,57,644 vehicles in the year-ago period, the company said.Sales of two-wheelers in the domestic market rose by 5% year-on-year to 2,73,188 units in September, as against 2,59,333 units in the same month last year.