Foreign currency borrowing and risk exposure of firms: An emerging market economy viewpoint

Foreign currency borrowings by emerging market corporations have increased significantly post-global financial crisis. Extant literature has mainly focussed on the flow of foreign currency borrowings, and policies which control the volatility of the flow of the foreign currency borrowings. In this paper, we emphasize the stock of the foreign currency borrowings in the balance sheet of a firm instead of the flow of the foreign currency borrowings, and show the ineffectiveness of policies focused on controlling the flow of foreign currency borrowings. We use the data of non-financial Indian firms listed in the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange. Our analysis show the fallacy of a policy focussed on controlling the flow of foreign currency borrowings. Despite policies which control the flow of the foreign currency borrowings, if a firm has a high stock of foreign currency borrowings in their balance sheet then the financial risk associated with the firm increases. A possible implication of our results is that too much foreign currency borrowings may pile up the risk in the financial system which may become a cause of concern.