SBI expecting Rs 4,000 cr from govt this fiscal

"I think the government will give us capital and it should be around Rs 4,000 crore. What mode it will be, is a matter that is being discussed," Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer Diwakar Gupta said.

"We have given various options and it is the call of the government to decide how they would like to infuse the equity," he said at the CFO summit organised by accounting and consultancy major PwC.

The Rs 4,000-crore capital infusion is adequate for us as that can keep the capital base above 13 per cent, Gupta added.

At the end of the September quarter, SBI's capital adequacy ratio, a key indicator of a bank's financial strength expressed as a ratio of capital to risk-weighted assets, stood

at 12.63 per cent, from 11.4 per cent in the year-ago quarter.

The government earlier this week had said it would finalise the capital infusion plans for its banks this week itself. The budget has earmarked nearly Rs 15,800 crore for

shoring up the core capital base of the state-run lenders hit by bad loans and poor asset growth.

On the bank's rights issue, which has been pending for more than two years, Gupta said if they decide against it, they may consider other modes of issuing.

"A rights issue should mean something to the people who get it. If its only Rs

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