They are used widely in India to facilitate access to foreign money by Indian corporations and PSUs (public sector undertakings).
Large number of Indian corporate and PSUs have used the ECBs as sources of investment.
According to a report in The Hindu in January 2013, the Reserve Bank of India raised the ECB limit "for non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) classified as infrastructure finance companies (IFCs) ... from 50 per cent to 75 per cent of owned funds, including outstanding ECBs".
[4] More recently, RBI issued a guideline stating that all eligible borrowers can raise ECB up to USD 750 million or equivalent per financial year under the automatic route.
The money raised through ECB is cheaper given near-zero interest rates in the US and Europe, Indian companies can repay part of their existing expensive loans from that.