Tata Tele subsidiary fails to meet covenants

Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) on Tuesday said loans worth ~1,600 crore could be recalled by lenders as it failed to meet financial covenants. TTML’s accumulated losses as on September 30 had exceeded its paid-up capital and reserves and was not able to satisfy financial covenants stated in agreements with lenders.

Steel major Tata Steel on Tuesday said its board had approved raising ~12,800crore through a rights issue to finance organic and inorganic growth plans.

The board, in its meeting on Tuesday, also approved a proposal to expand the capacity of Kalinganagar plant by fivemilliontonnesperannum (mtpa) to eight mtpa with a total investment of ~23,500 crore, the company said.

The board also reviewed the financial strategy of the company in the light of organic and inorganic growth strategy of the firm and approved the financial plan to raise capital for it.

“The Board approved issuance of equity and equitylinked instruments including ordinary shares of the companybyway of a rights issue to existing shareholders on record date for an amount not exceeding ~12,800 crore,” the statement said.

Tata Steel said that following the successful implementation of the phase-I of the Kalinganagar Project in Odisha, “the board approved the next phase of expansion of capacity in Kalinganagar by five mtpa from three mtps to eight mtpa”.

An amount of ~23,500 crore would be required for the project which the company aims at completing within 48 months from the date of commencement of construction, it said.

The total capacity of Tata Steel India operations following the expansion will be 18 mtpa. At present, Jamshedpur unit has a capacity of 10 mtpa and Kalinganagar, for which the decision was taken, is a threemtpa plant.

The mode of finance for the work would be “through a combination of debt and equity” and the project configuration and costs includes investments in raw material capacity expansion, upstream and midstream facilities, infrastructure and downstream facilities including a cold rolling mill complex, it added.