Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) on Thursday said the next round of capital raise is expected to bring down the government holding in the lender to below 75%. With the dilution of the government holding, the bank will be able to meet Sebi’s minimum public shareholding norms.
Managing director and CEO Nidhu Saxena said BoM is likely to raise funds in the next fiscal. He, however, refused to divulge the amount.
The public sector lender has to reduce the government holding to 75% and raise public shareholding to 25% by August 1, 2026.
At present, the government holds 79.6% stake in BoM. It came down from 86.46% at the end of September as the bank raised Rs 3,500 crore through qualified institutional placements in October.
“Going forward, the bank has plans to raise further capital to meet minimum public shareholding norms,” Saxena said during a media interaction. It is actively engaging with investors and is confident about the fundraise. The previous fundraising generated interest among investors in Singapore and Hong Kong, he said.
Total Basel III capital adequacy ratio of BoM stood at 18.71% with common equity tier 1 ratio of 13.60 per at the end of December 2024.
Meanwhile, the bank posted a 36% rise in its net profit to Rs 1,406 crore for the quarter ended December 2024, compared with Rs 1,036 crore in the year-ago period.
Total income increased to Rs 7,112 crore from Rs 5,851 crore. The bank was able to reduce gross NPAs to 1.80% of gross loans during the reviewed quarter from 2.04%. Net NPAs came down to 0.2% from 0.22%.