Days after finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced an upfront capital infusion of Rs 70,000 crore to boost lending at public sector banks (PSBs), Arijit Basu, MD (commercial clients group) State Bank of India (SBI), said on Tuesday the bank does not need capital from the government.
“For SBI, we are not looking at any capitalisation right now as we are well capitalised and we have been able to raise from the market. We have announced our programme for both tier I and tier II bonds,” Basu said on the sidelines of an event organised by industry body Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
He added the fund infusion is meant for banks which may not be able to access the market immediately. SBI plans some strategic sales to raise capital and will look to list subsidiaries including the credit card arm. Basu asserted credit offtake in the first half of the year is typically slow and that this year, the sluggishness was exacerbated by the slowdown in the economy.
To that extent, Basu said the announcement of revival measures by the government was a timely one as it comes ahead of the festive season when consumption typically picks up.
The Centre on Friday had announced a clutch of measures for liquidity-starved micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), including immediate release of Rs 30,000 crore or half of the Rs 60,000-crore dues held up by public sector units (PSUs), 75% of arbitration awards and pending GST refunds within 30 days.