Punjab National Bank (PNB) is looking to raise about Rs 2,000 crore of capital in the third or fourth quarter of this fiscal to fund business growth, its Chairman and Managing Director, Mr K. R. Kamath, has said.
He has also not ruled out raising higher amount of capital if the markets are good and rates are favourable in that period. Indications are that the capital raising will happen through bonds. PNB is not looking at any equity dilution in the next few months.
“As of now our capital adequacy is 12.46 per cent. We may require some capital at the end of the year. We have headroom both in Tier-I and Tier-II. We are keeping it open since the interest rates are very high now.
“We are just waiting to see if interest rates soften in the third or fourth quarter. Maybe that is the time we will enter the market,” Mr Kamath told newspersons after inaugurating the bank's first e-lobby facility here.
E-lobby facility
The e-lobby service allows a customer of the bank to deposit cash and cheques, withdraw money, update passbooks electronically on a 24x7 basis.
This facility would minimise congestion at the branch level and also add to customer convenience, Mr Kamath said. He also inaugurated a dedicated retail assets branch at Karol Bagh in the Capital for speedy sanction of car, home and educational loans for the customers.
On the liquidity front, Mr Kamath said that the bank was in a “comfortable” position. He also indicated that the bank would “wait and watch” before taking a call on changing lending rates.
Lending rates
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had recently hiked its policy rates by 25 basis points, raising expectations that banks would also hike their lending rates.
“We have taken the signal of the RBI”, he said, when queried if PNB intends to hike its lending rates in the wake of RBI policy rate action.
PNB is looking at a credit growth of 20-22 per cent this fiscal and a deposit growth of 18-20 per cent, Mr Kamath said.