Indian Bank may raise capital through FPO next fiscal

"We do not require capital immediately...we may go in for FPO in the next fiscal (2013-14)," the state-owned bank's Chairman and Managing Director T M Bhasin said. The board has already given approval for equity dilution to the extent of 10 per cent, he said.

At present, the government holds 80 per cent stake in the Chennai-headquartered bank.

Shares of Indian Bank closed at Rs 163 on the BSE on Friday, valuing it at Rs 7,005 crore.

Bhasin said the bank's total capital adequacy stands at 12.98 per cent. Of this, Tier-I is about 10.72 per cent at the end of June, 2012.

The bank is adequately capitalised to meet credit growth of 18 per cent for the current fiscal, he said.

Talking about overseas expansion plan, Bhasin said the bank plans to open a branch in Hong Kong. The bank has already sought regulatory permissions for opening its office in Hong Kong.

Indian Bank has three foreign branches at Singapore and Colombo and Jaffna in Sri Lanka.

Last month, Indian Bank reduced interest rates on home and car loans by up to 0.5 per cent.

"We have recently reduced interest rate on home and vehicle loans with an aim to increase credit disbursement in these segments," Bhasin said.

In the housing loan segment, rates has been reduced by up to 0.5 per cent, while interest rate on car loan has

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