Boost for realty, infra firms as RBI overhauls ECB norms

MUMBAI: Real estate, infrastructure, and corporate sectors are set to gain wider access to overseas funding with RBI overhauling external commercial borrowing (ECB) rules, sharply expanding the pool of eligible borrowers and clarifying permissible uses under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 framework.

The amended regulations shift the ECB regime from a restricted, sector-based eligibility model to a broad entity-based approach. Any non-individual resident entity incorporated under a central or state law can now raise overseas loans, subject to applicable statutory permissions. The wider eligibility is expected to ease funding constraints for statutory bodies, LLPs, development authorities and companies undergoing restructuring or insolvency resolution. While individuals are allowed to borrow from non-resident Indians or overseas citizens of India, the lenders have to convert money into rupees first and the money has to be repaid into their non-resident accounts.

A key boost comes for construction and development activity, where ECB funding has now been explicitly permitted with operational safeguards. Overseas borrowings can be used for township development, residential and commercial construction, integrated projects and city-level infrastructure, as well as hotels, hospitals and educational institutions. However, developers must complete trunk infrastructure such as roads, water supply and drainage before selling plots, signalling a shift toward financing structured development rather than speculative real estate activity.

Industrial infrastructure is also set to benefit. The framework formally enables ECB funding for industrial parks subject to defined conditions, including a minimum number of units, caps on space concentration and a mandated share of industrial activity. The move is expected to support manufacturing-linked infrastructure and industrial cluster development.

Selective segments of the agriculture ecosystem have also been opened for overseas borrowing. Controlled-environment cultivation, seed production, animal husbandry, aquaculture and agro-related services are now expressly permitted uses, potentially expanding capital access for high-value and technology-driven agri activities.

Separately, resident individuals can now borrow in rupees from non-resident Indians or OCI relatives on a non-repatriation basis, creating an additional cross-border borrowing channel outside the ECB framework.