Raising corporate debt in India: Has foreign ownership been an asset or a liability?

This article examines the relationship between the extent of foreign ownership and debt composition using a sample of 1,000 firms in India. The estimation results show that firms with foreign ownership do not access more expensive funds from commercial banks while they do enjoy relatively greater access to funds from development finance institutions, compared to domestic firms. Thus, Indian development finance institutions appear not to have discriminated against foreign affiliates in their lending activities.