According to two bankers familiar with the situation, UltraTech Cement intends to conduct the largest bond issuance in its history. These negotiations are being held with market makers and arrangers as the company seeks to utilize debt markets before the central bank's decision next week.
The country's largest cement producer by production capacity plans to raise a total of 500 billion rupees (equivalent to 517.80 million US dollars) through the issuance of bonds with maturities of two and a half, three and a half, and five years. Sources who wished to remain anonymous reported that the negotiations are currently confidential.
Specifically, the company aims to raise 150 billion rupees in each of the two shorter tranches, offering annual coupons of 7.22% and 7.23% respectively. Additionally, an issuance of 200 billion rupees is planned for the five-year tranche with a 7.25% coupon. Bankers noted that UltraTech aims to complete the sale before the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy decision on August 5th.
The bonds carry an AAA rating from Crisil, which may attract demand from mutual funds seeking high-quality credit. Previously, in March 2025, UltraTech raised 100 billion rupees through three-year and five-year bonds with an annual coupon of 7.34%. The company currently has 350 billion rupees in outstanding bonds, including 50 billion rupees maturing within a month.
Earlier this month, the cement producer reported nearly a 17% increase in profit for the first quarter. This was made possible by leveraging its scale and market position, allowing the company to better manage rising fuel costs related to the Middle East conflict compared to smaller competitors.
ICICI Bank, India's second-largest private lender, has successfully raised one billion US dollars by issuing five-year unsecured dollar bonds. This issuance marks the bank's first public dollar bond offering since 2017 and is also the largest single tranche dollar bond issuance by an Indian issuer in 2026.
The issuance under the 144A/Reg S program was priced with a premium of 100 basis points over US Treasury bonds, which was 30 basis points lower than the initial target of 130 basis points, indicating high investor interest. The coupon rate on the bonds was set at 5.46 percent. The demand exceeded $2.3 billion, representing an oversubscription of approximately 2.2 times.
The bonds received Baa3 ratings from Moody's and BBB from S&P. Participation in the placement was broad, covering various geographical regions: about 40 percent of allocations went to investors from the US, 42 percent from the Asia-Pacific region, and the remainder came from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).
Asset managers and funds received the largest share of allocations at around 65 percent. This was followed by institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds, and insurance companies, who accounted for 23 percent, while banks provided about 11 percent of participation. HSBC acted as the joint global coordinator and co-underwriter of the deal, leading marketing in Asia and the EMEA region.
Siddharth Sharma, Director and Head of Institutional Clients Group at HSBC India, noted that this transaction underscores ICICI Bank's strong credit profile and consistently high financial performance over the past years. He also highlighted that this is the largest currency bond issuance from India in 2026, and the oversubscription and broad investor participation strengthen confidence in India's stable macroeconomic environment.
ICICI Bank became the fourth entity, after HDFC Bank, Power Finance Corporation (PFC), and Axis Bank, to raise funds through dollar bonds under the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) preferential currency exchange window, which is open until December 30. HDFC Bank, India's largest private lender, benefited from the first-mover advantage after the announcement of the special RBI exchange window and raised $750 million through a five-year dollar bond issuance with a premium of 90 basis points over the corresponding US Treasury yield. PFC followed with an issuance of $300 million with a premium of 105 basis points over the five-year US Treasury yield, and Axis Bank raised $300 million with a premium of 110 basis points.
The board of directors of UltraTech Cement has approved a plan to raise funds amounting to up to ₹500 billion by issuing private unsecured convertible debentures (NCDs). Details regarding the tenure and coupon rate have not yet been announced.
In a report filed with the BSE, the company stated that the board's finance committee approved the proposal to raise funds through the issuance of up to 500,000 unsecured, non-cumulative debentures of ₹100,000 each. Additional information regarding timelines, coupon rates, and tranche schedules is currently awaited.
Earlier this week, UltraTech Cement presented a report showing a 17.23 percent growth in consolidated net profit for the June quarter, reaching ₹260.372 billion, while operating revenue increased by 15.85 percent to ₹246.482 billion.
The company holds a leading position in the cement industry, possessing a total capacity for grey cement production of 205.5 MTPA and a capacity for white cement/paste production of 3.2 MTPA. Furthermore, in the current fiscal year, the company plans to enter the cable and wire market.
