Mumbai: Country's largest lender SBI today said it has not taken a call on its proposed Rs 11,500 crore qualified institutional placement as markets remain weak. “I cannot, at this point, tell you anything (on QIP). We are on the job. You have seen the market currently, so that is the issue there. We have not taken a call yet,” State Bank of India chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya told reporters.
Market was abuzz with speculation that SBI might hit the market this week. It can be noted that the banking stocks were in a free-fall since the past two trading sessions following worries from emerging markets and awaiting the RBI policy tomorrow.
While the BSE Bankex plunged 3.97 per cent to 12,057, losing 499 points today, the SBI counter closed 1.8 per cent down at Rs 1594.55 on the BSE. The SBI scrip has lost over 37 per cent from its 52-week high.
The public sector lender has already received approval from its shareholders for the QIP and it will be followed by the Rs 2,000-crore fund infusion from the government. In the current fiscal, the government has promised to infuse Rs 2,000 crore through a preferential allotment of shares as part of its Rs 14,000 crore recapitalisation of the public sector banks this fiscal.
The Rs 11,500 crore QIP issue is likely to be completed by the end of this fiscal.
Post-QIP, for which State Bank of India received shareholders' nod earlier this week, government holding in the bank will go down to 58 per cent, she said.
