State Bank of India (SBI) will decide on the timing of its R10,000-crore qualified institutional placement (QIP) on January 31, according to chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya. The issue is likely to hit the market in February, according to Bhattacharya.
On December 31, India?s largest bank had received shareholder approval to raise upto R11,500 crore through a QIP issue. The government?s holding in the bank will not decline below 58% pursuant to the QIP. At present, it holds 62.31% in SBI.
SBI shares ended at R1,594 a piece on the Bombay Stock Exchange, down 1.7% from the previous close.
The bank will not need any fresh capital for at least two years after this QIP issue, Bhattacharya had been quoted as saying earlier.
Under the stricter Basel III capital requirement, SBI will need around R2.3 lakh crore in additional capital by March 2018, when the Basel III norms are fully implemented. Of this, R1.5 lakh crore is needed in core tier-I capital, senior officials of the bank had stated earlier.
Shareholders also approved the preferential issue of equity shares of R10 each to the government up to R2,000 crore. The bank will issue 1.12 crore shares on a preferential basis to the government for this. The SBI board had approved the preferential allotment in October.
The bank has fixed an issue price of R1,782.74 per share for a preferential stock allotment to the government as part of the capital infusion plan for this fiscal.
