Reimbursement of past expenditures under ECB framework prohibited, restricting trade credit use to permitted end-uses under regulations. Reimbursement of expenditure incurred in the past is not a permissible end-use under the External Commercial Borrowings (ECB) framework; the ECB/trade-credit regime bars use of borrowed funds to reimburse pre-existing expenses, requiring that financing be applied only to authorised operational or capital purposes.