State Bank of India (SBI), the largest commercial bank in the country, has recently raised Rs. 10,000 crore through the issuance of long-term bonds aimed at infrastructure financing. The issue received bids exceeding Rs. 18,145 crore, oversubscribing the base issue size of Rs. 5,000 crore by around 3.6 times.
The 15-year bonds carried a coupon rate of 7.36% and saw participation from 120 investors across categories like pension funds, insurance firms, mutual funds and corporates. The strong demand reflects confidence in SBI’s creditworthiness for financing vital infrastructure projects. Chairman Dinesh Khara believes this will promote the development of a depthier long-term debt market as well as encourage peer banks to issue longer-dated bonds.
As of March 2024, SBI’s total loan exposure to infrastructure operations stood at Rs. 3,94,681 crore, accounting for 12.23% of its domestic credit portfolio. The current bond issuance will boost its long-term resource mobilisation aimed at accelerating infrastructure development and affordable housing initiatives.
With this, SBI’s aggregate outstanding infrastructure focused bonds now aggregate to Rs. 59,718 crore. The robust fund raising bodes well for its continued support to modernising India’s transport, utility and social infrastructurebackbone through reliable credit facilities.
