Reliance Industries on Thursday raised Rs 20,000 crore through rupee denominated bonds. This is the largest amount raised through corporate bonds by a manufacturing firm in the country.

These bonds carry a tenor of 10 years and it came at a coupon rate of 7.79 per cent. The benchmark 10-year government bond on Thursday closed at 7.27 per cent.

There was a strong interest from insurers and pension funds for RIL bonds and nearly half of the amount was subscribed by the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).

While the issue received bids of over Rs 27,100 crore, proceeds are likely to be used towards refinancing current borrowings.

For the quarter ended September 30, while RIL’s outstanding debt stood at Rs 295,687 crore, this was lower than Rs 318,685 crore recorded in the April-June period. Its cash and cash equivalents were at Rs 177,960 crore against Rs 192,064 crore in the same quarter.

During the quarter, RIL’s consolidated net profit rose over 27 per cent to Rs 17,394 crore against Rs 13,656 crore in the year-ago period.

Analysts at Systematix Institutional Equities said in a note that RIL’s consolidated net debt dipped marginally on a sequential basis during the second quarter. The company’s capex remained higher at Rs 38,800 crore from Rs 39600 crore in the April-June period, largely because of the 5G roll-out and retail expansion that saw Reliance Retail adding 471 stores.

During the quarter a strong operating cash flow helped RIL in funding the capex.

At the same time the company went for a capital raise of Rs 10,300 crore for Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL) from QIA and KKR, which helped it lower the net debt. Further, RRVL received another capital raise from ADIA in October.