The country’s largest lender SBI on Wednesday said its board had approved raising ₹8,000 crore through various sources, including masala bonds, to meet Basel III capital norms.
“The central board, at its meeting held today[Wednesday], accorded approval to raise additional tier 1 (AT 1) capital by way of issuance of Basel III compliant debt instruments in USD and/or INR to the tune of ₹8,000 crore from domestic/international markets including masala bonds,” the bank said in a regulatory filing.
Masala bonds are rupee- denominated specialised debt instruments that can be floated in overseas markets only to raise capital.
State Bank of India (SBI) said it had time till March 2018 to raise the funds.
Banks in India have to comply with the global capital norms under Basel III by March 2019, three months later than the internationally-agreed time frame, by January 2019.
