Bank of Maharashtra is planning to raise Rs1,500 crore in three years, its chairman and managing announced says.

''We have a plan to raise Rs500 crore every year starting from this fiscal for three years via follow-on public offers, qualified institutional placement or issue perpetual preference shares,'' Allen C A Pereira said.

The timing of the issue would depend on market conditions, he added.

Talking about the bank's credit and deposit growth, Pereira told reporters on the sidelines of a banking conclave, ''We have a deposit target of 17-18 per cent and a credit target of 20 per cent this fiscal.''

The net interest margin in the first quarter (April-June) of the current fiscal was 2.43 per cent. "Though there is pressure on the margins, we have set a NIM target of 2.7 per cent this fiscal,'' Pereira added.

The bank is planning to open 76 branches this fiscal. Of these, four branches would be in the north-eastern states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.

The bank is Maharashtra's biggest lender, and is not affiliated to any major public sector bank.