Mumbai, May 27: LIC Housing Finance Ltd has raised $50 million by way of external commercial borrowings (ECB) at 69 basis points over LIBOR (London inter-bank offer rate) to meet the company's requirements towards disbursements of housing loans. Strong rupee and low interest rates in the international markets has made the ECBs very lucrative for raising finances, a company release said here today, quoting Chief Executive S C Jain.
The total cost of ECB would be around 3-3.5 per cent after taking into consideration hedging of the principal amount, he said.
The company plans to raise around Rs 2,000-2,500 crore for increased business requirements in 2003-04 and "it will be our endeavour to explore alternative sources of raising finance to bring down the cost of funds and improve shareholder value", he added.

ABN Amro Bank was the main arranger and Development Bank of Singapore and State Bank of India are the co-arrangers of the deal, the release said.
LIC Housing Finance had in FY-03 sanctioned loans amounting to Rs 3,593.44 crore and disbursements to Rs 3,190.8 crore, showing a robust growth of 62.56 per cent in disbursements over last year. Bureau Report