HUDCO 7.69% Tax-Free Bonds – Tranche II – March 2016 Issue

This post is written by Shiv Kukreja, who is a Certified Financial Planner and runs a financial planning firm, Ojas Capital in Delhi/NCR. He can be reached at skukreja@investitude.co.in

It seems like the hunger for tax-free bonds is just growing unabated and whatever the issue size be it would be gobbled up by the investors on the first day itself. HUDCO will launch its second issue of tax-free bonds from 2nd of March i.e. the coming Wednesday and though the company has fixed March 10 to be the closing date of this issue, I think there is no need to emphasize here on this forum that nobody should expect to get any allotment if the bid is not made on the first day itself.

It will be the ninth such issue of tax-free bonds for the current financial year, but none of the issues has lasted for more than one day to get oversubscribed, except for the NHAI Tranche I in December. Though I think for any issue to last for more than one day the quota for the retail investors has to be more than Rs. 2,000-2,500 crore, this issue has only Rs. 715 crore for the individual investors investing Rs. 10 lakhs or less.

Here are the main features of HUDCO Tax-Free Bonds Tranche II:

Size of the Issue – Out of Rs. 5,000 crore allocated to HUDCO to be raised this financial year, 70% i.e. Rs. 3,500 crore should be raised through public issues. HUDCO raised Rs. 1,711.50 crore through its first public issue in January and it will raise the remaining Rs. 1,788.50 crore in this issue.

Coupon Rates on Offer – HUDCO issue will carry coupon rates which are absolutely same as offered by NHAI in its issue which got closed yesterday – 7.29% for the 10-year option and 7.69% for the 15-year option. Like the NHAI issue, this issue also will not offer the 20-year option.

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For the non-retail investors, coupon rate will be lower by 25 basis points (or 0.25%) for the 10-year option and 30 basis points (or 0.30%) for the 15-year option, as it was the case in the NHAI issue as well.

Rating of the Issue – CARE and India Ratings have assigned ‘AAA’ rating to the issue, indicating that the issue is quite safe to invest and the company is highly likely to pay its debt obligations in a timely manner. Also, these bonds are ‘Secured’ in nature and in case of any default, the bondholders would carry a right to make claim on certain assets of the company.

NRI/QFI Investment Not Allowed – Again, Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Qualified Foreign Investors (QFIs) are not eligible to invest in this issue.

Investor Categories & Allocation Ratio – The investors have been classified in the following four categories and each category will have certain percentage of the issue size reserved during the allocation process:

Category I – Qualified Institutional Bidders (QIBs) – 20% of the issue is reserved i.e. Rs. 357.70 crore

Category II – Non-Institutional Investors (NIIs) – 20% of the issue is reserved i.e. Rs. 357.70 crore

Category III – High Net Worth Individuals including HUFs – 20% of the issue is reserved i.e. Rs. 357.70 crore

Category IV – Resident Indian Individuals including HUFs – 40% of the issue is reserved i.e. Rs. 715.40 crore

Allotment on First Come First Served Basis – Subject to the allocation ratio, allotment will be made on a first-come-first-served (FCFS) basis in each of the investor categories, based on the date of upload of each application into the electronic system of the stock exchanges.

Listing & Allotment – HUDCO bonds will get listed only on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The company will allot the bonds and get them listed within 12 working days from the closing date of the issue.

Demat A/c. Not Mandatory – It is not mandatory to have a demat account to apply for these bonds. Investors have the option to subscribe to these bonds in physical form as well. Whether you apply for these bonds in demat or physical form, the interest payment will still be credited to your bank account through ECS.

Also, even if you get these bonds allotted in an electronic form, you have the option to rematerialize your holding in physical/certificate form if you decide to close your demat account in future.

No Lock-In Period – These tax-free bonds are freely tradable and do not carry any lock-in period. The investors may sell them at the market price whenever they want after these bonds get listed on the stock exchanges within 12 working days of the closing date.

Interest on Application Money & Refund – Successful allottees will earn interest at the applicable coupon rates on their application money, from the date of realization of application money up to one day prior to the deemed date of allotment. Unsuccessful allottees will get interest @ 5% per annum on their refund money.

Minimum & Maximum Investment – Investors are required to put in a minimum investment of Rs. 5,000 in this issue i.e. at least 5 bonds of face value Rs. 1,000 each. There is no upper limit for the investors to invest in this issue. However, an investor investing more than Rs. 10 lakhs will be categorized as a high networth individual (HNI) and will get a lower rate of interest as applicable.

Interest Payment Date – HUDCO will make its first interest payment on December 15 this year and subsequent interest payments will also be made on December 15 every year, except the last interest payment, which will be made to the bondholders along with the redemption amount on the maturity date.

Record Date – For the payment of interest or the maturity amount, record date will be fixed 15 days prior to the date on which such amount is due to be payable.

Should you invest in this issue?

Budget 2016 will be presented in the parliament on February 29 and we will get to know whether we will have these tax-free bonds available or not for the next financial year. In case the finance minister Mr. Arun Jaitley decides against extending this facility to these public sector units, then I think there will be a rise in the demand for the already listed tax-free bonds and hence, we can expect a rise in their market value as well.

Also, a higher fiscal deficit number will result in an increase in bond yields, which in turn will result in a higher coupon rates for the IRFC and NABARD issues. So, in case there is a jump in bond yields, then you should wait for the these two issues to decide on your final investments. I’ll update this post on March 1 after the climax of Budget 2016 gets revealed.

Expected Launch Date of IRFC and NABARD Issues – 2nd week of March

Application Form for HUDCO Tax Free Bonds

Note: As per SEBI guidelines, ‘Bidding’ is mandatory before banking the application form, else the application is liable to get rejected. For bidding of your application, any further info or to invest in HUDCO tax-free bonds, you can contact me at +919811797407

314 thoughts on “HUDCO 7.69% Tax-Free Bonds – Tranche II – March 2016 Issue”

  1. Kindly explain the differences beteeen short & long term capital gains taxation for tax free bonds versus MF DEBT Funds.

    In case we sell TFB’s and have a small STCG, where exactly is this to be shown in our ITR (FORM-2)

  2. The information is useful and interesting. It would be worth while if information on availability of such bonds in secondary market is also provided so that those who are unlucky in getting issue can take advantage from secondary market.

  3. 1) Request you to kindly advise best 5-6 Debt Mutual Funds Growth Option where we can safely invest retirement savings for few years and which lend to safe companies. Also please advise MF DEBT FUNDS Short term & long term Capital Gains & suggest which option to choose.
    2) Please advise best TFB’s buys in secondary market from earlier lots which are available at favorable prices, good yields & above all GOOD LIQUIDITY.

  4. Thanks for the updates. After reading the posts of Opverma and Surender, I also checked my account and found the NABARD interest credited. No news so far from NSDL regarding the credit of the bonds in my Demat account!

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