Nervous Indian firms buy the shortest-term debt they can
Live MintMumbai: Corporate treasury departments in India have become so concerned about credit risk they’re increasingly parking their cash in securities maturing overnight. Overnight funds could gain more heft if the regulator tightens rules for money-market funds, which in September suffered the worst outflows since at least April 2007 amid defaults at the IL&FS Group. Several fund houses marked down their holdings of debt issued by IL&FS, with some liquid funds losing as much as 5 percent — or half a year’s worth of gains — in a single day. Overnight funds currently offer 125 basis points lower yield than their liquid counterparts that hold treasury bills, commercial paper and certificates of deposit, according to Essel Funds Management. Still, the stress suffered by commercial paper amid the IL&FS crisis means investors are discriminating on credit quality, said Karthik Srinivasan, senior vice-president at ICRA Ltd. That said, the future of overnight funds depends on how the regulatory framework for liquid funds evolves, debt managers say.