NHAI Tax Free Bonds – January 2014

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 [email protected]

As National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) launches its tax-free bonds issue next week from January 15th i.e. the coming Wednesday, it would become the ninth such company to do that this financial year after REC, HUDCO, IIFCL, PFC, NHPC, NTPC, NHB and IRFC. NHAI would carry coupon rates of 8.75% per annum for the 15-year duration and 8.52% per annum for the 10-year duration.

Though the rates are not as attractive as National Housing Bank (NHB) offered, they are still better than IRFC. Like IRFC, NHAI has also decided not to offer the 20-year option. But, unlike IRFC, the issue is relatively smaller in size and will remain open for four more days i.e. fifteen days, to close on February 5th, Wednesday again.

Size of the Issue – NHAI is authorised to raise Rs. 5,000 crore from tax-free bonds this financial year, out of which it has already raised Rs. 1,301.60 crore through a private placement carried out on November 25, 2013. So, NHAI plans to raise the remaining Rs. 3,698.40 crore from this issue, with Rs. 1,000 crore as the base issue size and Rs. 2,698.40 crore as the green-shoe option.

Rating of the Issue – Being the nodal agency for the development and maintenance of national highways across the country and an autonomous body under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, this issue of NHAI has been rated as ‘AAA’ by three credit rating agencies, CRISIL, CARE and Brickwork Ratings, which is again the highest rating by these rating agencies.

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) – 10% of the issue i.e. Rs. 369.84 crore is reserved

Category II – Non-Institutional Investors (NIIs) – 30% of the issue i.e. Rs. 1,109.52 crore is reserved

Category III – High Net Worth Individuals including HUFs – 20% of the issue i.e. Rs. 739.68 crore is reserved

Category IV – Resident Indian Individuals including HUFs – 40% of the issue i.e. Rs. 1,479.36 crore is reserved

NRI Investment – Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Qualified Foreign Investors (QFIs) would be disappointed to know that they have been left out as ineligible to invest in this issue.

Allotment on First Come First Served Basis – Subject to the allocation ratio, allotment will be made on a first come first serve (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.

Demat/Physical Option – Investors have the option to apply for these bonds either in physical/certificate form or in demat form, whichever they are comfortable with. But, it is mandatory to have a demat account to sell/trade these bonds. Interest will still get credited to your respective bank accounts through ECS or to that bank account which is linked to your demat account.

Lock-in Period, Premature Redemption & Listing – As these are not tax saving bonds, there is no lock-in period with these bonds. But, at the same time, the investors cannot redeem these bonds back to the company before the maturity period gets over. In order to encash your investment before maturity, you’ll have to compulsorily sell these bonds on the stock exchange(s) where they have been listed for trading.

NHAI has decided to get these bonds listed on both the stock exchanges, National Stock Exchange (NSE) as well as Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). As always, the company will get these bonds allotted and listed within 12 working days from the closing date of the issue.

Interest on Application Money & Refund – NHAI will pay interest to the successful allottees on their application money at the applicable rate of 8.52% p.a. or 8.75% p.a. as the case may be. It will be calculated from the date of realization of application money up to one day prior to the deemed date of allotment. Investors, who don’t get these bonds allotted, will get interest @ 5% p.a. on their refund money.

Face Value of the bonds & Minimum Investment – NHAI has decided to fix the face value of these bonds at Rs. 1,000 each and minimum application size at 5 bonds. So, the investors will have to invest at least Rs. 5,000 with the company.

Interest Payment Date & Record Date – NHAI has fixed the interest payment date to be March 15. So, the investors investing in this issue will get their first due interest paid on March 15, 2014 and subsequently on March 15 every year, except Sundays and other public holidays.

Record date will be fixed 15 days prior to the interest payment date, except Saturdays, Sundays and other public holidays.

Out of thirteen companies which have been allowed to issue tax-free bonds this financial year, six companies, REC, PFC, NHPC and NTPC, HUDCO and NHB have already exhausted their quota of fund raising through their public issues. While IRFC issue is open and NHAI coupon rates are out, only five other companies, IIFCL, IREDA, Airport Authority of India, Cochin Ship Yard and Ennore Port are left to do such exercise.

While nobody knows in which direction the G-Sec rates are headed, the investors are now left with very few choices to take advantage of these tax-free bonds this financial year. If you still think that inflation, India’s fiscal deficit and G-Sec rates are headed higher, you can probably wait for either IIFCL to launch its Tranche III issue or IREDA to launch its maiden tax-free bonds issue. Otherwise, I think you have only IRFC and NHAI issues to make a choice.

Application Form of NHAI 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 NHAI Tax Free Bonds, you can contact me at +919811797407

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130 thoughts on “NHAI Tax Free Bonds – January 2014”

  2. Day 3 (January 17) subscription figures:

    Category I – Rs. 597 crore as against Rs. 369.84 crore reserved
    Category II – Rs. 1,118.67 crore as against Rs. 1,109.52 crore reserved
    Category III – Rs. 862.08 crore as against Rs. 739.68 crore reserved
    Category IV – Rs. 968.20 crore as against Rs. 1,479.36 crore reserved
    Total Subscription – Rs. 3,545.95 crore as against total issue size of Rs. 3,698.40 crore

    Reply

  3. Hi Shiv,
    Where from do you get the subscription figures? I am interested to know if there is anyway to know the term each category investor has subscribed and by how much? for instance something like 25% of retail investor has subscriber to 10 yrs term and 75% subscribed to 15yrs term. I am ok to drive the precentage if I could get the numbers from reliable source.

    Thanks

    Reply

  4. Day 2 (January 16) subscription figures:

    Category I – Rs. 597 crore as against Rs. 369.84 crore reserved
    Category II – Rs. 1,067.84 crore as against Rs. 1,109.52 crore reserved
    Category III – Rs. 858.91 crore as against Rs. 739.68 crore reserved
    Category IV – Rs. 829.97 crore as against Rs. 1,479.36 crore reserved
    Total Subscription – Rs. 3,353.72 crore as against total issue size of Rs. 3,698.40 crore

    Reply

  5. Hi Shiv,

    If someone has opted for physical form at the time of application, can he switch to demat mode before issue closure. (This may happen if his application for demat account is processed after his bond application). If yes, then what is the mode of communication to registrar ? Will a letter to registrar quoting application number, demat account number etc. suffice?

    Thanks in advance for your response.

    Reply

  7. Day 1 (January 15) subscription figures:

    Category I – Rs. 597 crore as against Rs. 369.84 crore reserved
    Category II – Rs. 865.62 crore as against Rs. 1,109.52 crore reserved
    Category III – Rs. 693.83 crore as against Rs. 739.68 crore reserved
    Category IV – Rs. 617.14 crore as against Rs. 1,479.36 crore reserved
    Total Subscription – Rs. 2,773.58 crore as against total issue size of Rs. 3,698.40 crore

    Reply

  9. Hi Shiv,

    Wonder why NRIs are permitted in certain TFBs and not in others. Any idea what would be the rationale behind such decisions?

    Also are OCI cardholders (dual citizenship) residing in India permanently and resident for tax purposes eligible to apply?

    Thanks
    Ram

    Reply

    1. Hi Ram,

      One, it is the managements’ decision whether to offer it to the NRIs or not. Two, certain companies are not allowed to do it for the NRIs.

      I am not 100% sure, but I think OCI cardholders resident for tax purposes are eligible to apply for these bonds.

      Reply

  10. Once again very well written post Shiv and want to thank you for continuing to guide us. So here we have another issue.. I’ve already invested heavily in TFB’s in 2013-14 at average return rate of 8.91% and considering very few companies are left to come up with TFB’s this year, who knows this might be the last good opportunity so won’t miss this one either. Also as you promised still waiting for your post on interest rate dates of the bonds issued in 2013-14.

    Regards

    Ikjot

    Reply

    1. George

      Not all will have demat accounts especially if someone is applying for bonds in the name of family members. It doesnt make sense to have demat accounts just to hold these TFB if you are sure you will hold to maturity and when the amount invested is not very high.

      Regards
      Ramadas

      Reply

    2. Hi,
      I have opened demat account bit later so that couple of bonds are in paper form. I don’t realise that demat account is required if I have to trade these bonds. Thanks for your feedback.

      Regards,
      Sundar.

      Reply

  12. Hi Shiv,
    I have a question on Hudco tax free bond which I have invested. But I got a letter today from Hudco saying that the allotment letter should be sent to them by tomorrow ie 15th Jan, to get physical bond, otherwise allotment will be cancelled. I received that letter only today, not sure how I can send them by tomorrow. Why do they cancel the allotment if we don’t send the allotment letter. For RECs, they sent physical bond even when I didn’t send the allotment letter. Please let me know if you know any ways , for sure I don’t want my allotment to be cancelled. Thank you.

    Regards,
    Sundar.

    Reply

    1. Hi Sundar,

      I think you should either call or write a mail to the customer care department of Karvy Computershare regarding this. You can ask Karvy if the scanned copy of the duly filled letter can work in this case. I think they will surely understand this case and extend the deadline.

      Reply

    2. I am also disappointed in the way HUDCO is handling bond holders holding bonds in physical format. Bond holder need to send the letter of allotment to HUDCO by registered post to receive bonds. I havent yet received any date to send the allotment letter to registrar. I received NTPC and NHPC bonds without any of these trouble

      Regards
      Ramadas

      Reply

    3. Sundar, I suggest you scan and sent the letter to their email id and inform that if needed physical copy will be sent by courier which requires time. That will be fine.

      Reply

  13. Shiv

    Yesterday I received full refund on NHB. I’m wondering whether to invest through the purchase of NHB bonds from market or invest in NHAI bonds. What would your advice. Also do you expect it to close in a day.

    Thanks

    Reply

    1. Sorry Viks, it is a decision you need to take, I won’t be able to take this query here on this forum. Just to add that one should go for bonds/NCDs which yield higher.

      My personal feeling is that it is not going to close on the first day, but you never know. NHB refund money is going to help this NHAI issue.

      Reply

    2. I know, Shiv will not be able to give suggestion to individual query. But if I were to be in your place, I will subscribe for NHAI considering the fact that you will get it on par. If you were to buy NHB in secondary market you will end up paying 0.5-1 % brokerage and 1-2 % premium. Your YTM will be less than 8.75% offered by NHAI for 15 years bond. NHAI currently in secondary market is trading at around 8.5% YTM.

      Reply

  14. Good and last opportunity in this financial year for investors looking for a credible Tax free bond issue. It is also possible that GOI will not be planning such issues in next financial years. Those who are worried about BJP coming to power and doing away with Income Tax , my take is that it is a long way for any such decision to come into effect. No Govt can take such decision in a hurry. Even if that happens , the interest rate will be low and still the TF bonds will have a good market. Happy investing in NHAI bonds to one and all readers in this forum. Since NHAI was the first issue of TF bonds and I had a good experience (Sold a few at Rs 1170 per bond). I encourage investors to subscribe for this bond.

    Reply

  18. Dear Shiv,

    Can you please let us know the interest payment date of all the TFB that were issued during 2013-14.

    Thanks

    Reply

  19. NHAI is coming into the market just at the right time when the refund money from NHB will be available to the investors.
    Shiv, I see some negative sentiment about IRFC in the last couple of days, but I hope the same is not applicable for NHAI. 🙂

    Reply

    1. The main reason for IRFC having reasonable subscription on first day and momentum lost is because, the public was waiting for hearing the coupon rate of NHAI. Those who wants to apply in both would have already applied. Considering that the size is big and many more days to go, IRFC will have traction once NHAI bond gets over subscribed. IRFC will find it difficult to achieve the full subscription considering the size. NHAI will have a better response and we will be able to make it by 2PM on 15th. Check for subscription at 2PM on 15th and take your call.

      Reply

  20. I have missed all previous tax free bonds.
    Should I invest in NHAI or will it be better to buy other bonds eg. HUDCO from market?

    I am concerned about liquidity as these are very long term. I know these bonds are listed on exchange and do not have lock in period. But do they have sufficient volumes ?

    Pls reply. Thanks.

    Reply

    1. Hi Darsh,

      Liquidity is just enough to cash out your investments in case of any kind of emergency. Its not that there are no takers for these bonds in the secondary markets, but the volumes are not very high. These bonds do not stand anywhere near to the share market in terms of liquidity.

      Whether you should buy these bonds in the public issue or from the secondary markets, you need to take a call yourself after analyzing these issues and the listed bonds.

      Reply

          1. As a second thought, have you ever analysed the future of these bonds in terms of liquidity and capital loss in case of abolishing IT Laws. This is a hot topic for one of the major party, expected to win in upcoming election?

            Who will then by all these bonds in secondary market with such annual yields(not quarterly compounded)? Does this means Investors have to either wait for the maturity period or sell it with huge capital losses?

            Reply

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