SBI board approves plan to raise Rs 10000 crore via tier I bonds

The country's biggest lender State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday, December 14, said its central board has approved raising capital by way of issuance of Basel III compliant debt instruments in rupees or any other convertible currency, up to FY24. As per a regulatory filing, SBI said it will raise fresh additional tier 1 (AT1) Capital up to an amount of Rs 10,000 crore, subject to the government of India's concurrence. The fundraising would help the bank grow its loan book.

Last week, SBI announced that its personal banking advances, excluding high-value home loans, have crossed the Rs 5-lakh crore mark. The lender took a year to book the last Rs 1 lakh crore of advances, as against over 15 months for the previous Rs 1 lakh crore and over 30 months for the Rs 1 lakh crore before that.

SBI has 22,309 branches, over 65,000 automated teller machines and 66,757 business correspondent outlets, which drive its entire retail banking franchise. Earlier in July, the board had approved raising up to Rs 11,000 crore through Basel-III compliant debt instruments.