Ashok Leyland To Raise $250Mn From Overseas Market

Chennai: Ashok Leyland will mop up $250 million (Rs 1,100 crore) via the ECB-route. They will hit the market within a week. The money will be utilized to finance the company''s capital expansion projects at Ennore and Uttaranchal. Te company foresaw no drop in sales even in the goods segment. Ashok Leyland released its May figures, which indicate a drop of 17 per cent in the goods segment, even as the total sales buoyed by bus buys State governments were up three per cent. It believes that the drop in the goods segment is due only to deferment of buys because of an anticipated drop in interest rates. The drop appears to be sharp this time also because the effect of the Supreme Court''s ruling against overloading was felt more in April-May last year in the immediate aftermath of the ruling, people purchased more trucks.