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SBI plans to raise $750 M by December
By siliconindia staff writer
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Friday, 20 August 2004, 19:30 IST
MUMBAI: State Bank of India (SBI), the nation's largest commercial bank, plans to raise up to $750 million overseas by December to expand its operations abroad, its chairman AK Purwar said on Friday.
The bank hopes to raise a $250 million loan in the next two to three months and a further $250 to $500 million by December through an overseas bond issue, Purwar told reporters on the sidelines of a news conference.
"Over the next two years, SBI is looking at its global operations in an extremely focused manner," he said.
SBI's overseas operations would contribute to 15 to 20 per cent of profit in the next two to three years, up from five to six per cent now, he told the conference called to announce SBI's selection of Infosys Technologies Ltd's banking solution for its global operations.
SBI has said it plans to buy a mid-sized bank overseas. The bank has some 9,000 branches across India and about 200,000 employees. It manages around a fifth of all deposits and loans handled by commercial banks in India.