The country’s largest bank State Bank of India plans to raise tier-II capital in the range of about Rs 5,000 crore before March.
“We will be raising funds through the tier-II bonds before March hopefully. It should be in the range of about Rs 5,000 crore. There is no time frame but definitely before March,” said SBI chief, Arundhati Bhattacharya. She was speaking at the annual Bancon summit here.
Earlier this week, Bhattacharya had said SBI planned to raise over Rs 9,000 crore in tier-I capital through the qualified institutional placement route to strengthen its core capital.
Besides, the Government has also promised to infuse Rs 2,000 crore through a preferential allotment of shares.
Bhattacharya, who took over as the head of the state-run lender in October, said the bank will lend to all the sectors where it sees viability but added that it will focus more on growing the retail book.
FCNR and Swap window
On the extension of the FCNR (B) deposits and swap window, which comes to an end on November 30, she said the RBI has not conveyed anything on this regard.
“It should not be an issue. Our funds will go up by the end of the month…About half a billion dollars ($500 million) have been raised (so far under the facility),” Bhattacharya said.
The RBI Governor, Raghuram Rajan, on Wednesday, said that the banks have got in up to $18 billion through the scheme but some experts are of the view that it may be extended in order to take up the number to up to $30 billion.
The FCNR and swap window was opened by the RBI in July to get NRI inflows to stabilise the rupee.
Growth and margins
On asking about the net interest margins, Bhattacharya maintained her cautious stance saying, “Times are very volatile hence there is no guidance on the margins.”
In spite of the problems on the economic front, she said SBI is maintaining its credit growth target at 16-18 per cent.