GAIL (India) Ltd will raise Rs 18,000 crore (Rs 180 billion) through a mix of loan, bonds and foreign currency debt to fund its massive Rs 25,000 crore (Rs 250 billion) capital expenditure planned in the next 5 years.

"We need to borrow Rs 18,000 crore from the market to meet our investment needs," GAIL director (finance) S P Jain told reporters in New Delhi.

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GAIL is investing Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) in laying 12 major pipelines as part of the National Gas Grid and also spending on city gas distribution project in 22 cities and LNG project.

It is also investing Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) for laying optic fibre cables.

"Our internal resource generation is about Rs 1,500 crore (Rs 15 billion) annually," GAIL chairman and managing director Proshanto Banerjee said.

This fiscal, GAIL is raising Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) through bonds and an equal amount through term loans from banks.

"Major part of the fund requirement would be in two-three years from now," Jain said.

GAIL is raising $150 million through external commercial borrowings by July and is inviting bids from a panel that includes ABN Amro, Standard & Chartered, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, Credit Lyonnais, BNP Paribas, Bank of America, State Bank of India, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Indian Overseas Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, HSBC, Barclays and J P Morgan Chase.

It proposes to borrow $100 million with a green shoe option to retain additional $50 million. The ECB would be used to finance general capital expenditure.