No capital need for SBI from government— Chairman

New Delhi, June 13 (IANS): State Bank of India Chairman Rajnish Kumar on Thursday said the bank does not need any capital from the government. “SBI doesn’t need any capital from the government,” Kumar said after a meeting with the Finance Minister for pre-Budget consultations with bankers where capital infusion in PSU banks was discussed. In March this year, the SBI raised INR 1,251 crore in bonds to boost its additional tier 1 capital ratio while its board has extended the deadline to raise INR 20,000 crore till March next year. In 2018-19, the government had pumped in INR 1.6 lakh crore, the highest ever, into public sector banks, helping five lenders come out of the PCA framework and to meet regulatory and growth capital. The interim budget presented in February did not provide any allocation for recapitalisation. In February this year and in the last fiscal, the government approved and later infused INR 48,239 crore recapitalisation plan for 12 public sector banks (PSBs), including the fraud-hit Punjab National Bank (PNB), to help them avoid and come out of the prompt corrective action (PCA) framework. In Q4, the country’s largest bank had reported a net profit of INR 838 crore against a net loss of Rs 7,718 crore in the same period the previous year. It reported a substantial improvement in the asset quality, with lower fresh slippages and better recoveries. The PCR improved from 66 per cent to 79 per cent. The bank said recovery in FY19 was at an all-time high of INR 31,512 crore. Of this, INR 13,836 crore came through the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Resolution process.