Mumbai, March 14: Nicholas Piramal India Ltd (NPIL) plans to offer a rights issue of up to Rs 350 crore. The proceeds of the issue will be largely used to fulfil NPIL?s commitment to increase the percentage of export sales through contract manufacturing and international formulations.

The proposal of a rights issue was cleared by the board at a meeting last Saturday, the company informed the bourses today. It did not reveal further details of the issue.

NPIL said it has formulated an Agya Chakra growth plan that envisages a higher market growth in domestic formulations in the first phase. It will focus on contract manufacturing and international formulations in the subsequent phase followed by research and development activities (R&D) to develop innovative products.

NPIL said it had examined various options for capex funding. These included full debt funding of investment and part-equity financing. Of the two, while the first option resulted in high debt/equity levels, the second option contained them at a stable level.

The part-equity funding include rights offering, preferential allotment, GDRs, international convertible bonds and American depository receipts.