SBI expects capital infusion soon

Country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) on Friday said it expects fund infusion from the government soon.

The capital infusion will take place during the current fiscal itself, SBI Managing Director Mr Diwakar Gupta told PTI.

“We are yet to get official communication from the government on the quantum (of fund infusion in the bank),” he added.

The government has already announced that it is committed to providing adequate capital to public sector banks so as to maintain their Tier-I capital at 8 per cent.

As of September, 2011, the capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of SBI stood at 11.4 per cent. Of this, tier-I capital stood at 7.7 per cent at the end of first quarter against minimum 8 per cent level desired by the government.

Earlier this month, SBI Chairman Mr Pratip Chaudhuri had said, “It (infusion) is round the corner. It could happen any day now. I think (the mode) is not decided, but whatever we are getting we will be getting in cash. We are expecting Rs 3,000-4,000 crore either in December or by March.”

“If they (government) put in Rs 3,000 crore (in SBI), so this will mean another 3 per cent increase in government holding,” he had said.

The Government of India, which holds 59.4 per cent stake in SBI, has earmarked Rs 6,000 crore for the fiscal for capital infusion in public sector banks to ensure that they meet the regulatory requirements.

In 2010-11, the government had provided capital support to the tune of Rs 20,157 crore to public sector banks.

SBI had submitted proposal some months ago to raise Rs 20,000 crore through a rights issue. The bank requires Rs 20,000 crore to fund its growth plans over the next two fiscals.

SBI had raised over Rs 16,000 crore through a rights issue in 2008. In the last SBI rights issue, the government contribution was in the form of bonds to the bank instead of cash.