Axis Bank, India's third largest private sector bank after ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, yesterday disclosed that it plans to raise Rs3,000 crore through a debt issue in one or more tranches in local or overseas markets to support organic growth.

In a communication to the Bombay Stock Exchanges (BSE), the banker said that after its 15th annual general meeting in Ahmedabad yesterday, the bank hasd been authorised to raise Rs500 crore by way of Tier I capital and Rs2,500 crore of Tier II capital in 2009-10.

The banker also announced that it would make a 100 per cent dividend payment or Rs10 per share.

The bank, which had seen a growth of nearly 70 per cent and a net profit of Rs1,815.36 crore for 2008-2009, said that it would raise the capital during the course of this year and use the money to make more loans, add more branches, on logistics, power, healthcare and education.

Currently the Bank has a wide presence through its 835 branches & extension counters and 3,595 ATMs across 515 cities and towns.

During the past year, the bank added 164 branches & extension counters and 831 ATMs while in Q4 alone, it added 86 branches and 424 ATMs and it aims to add another 200 more branches this year.

Formerly known as UTI bank, Axis bank, whose net worth was Rs9,757 crore as at end March'09, had completed a wholesale restructuring of its business.

It created corporate, retail, merchant and treasury banking as its core profit centers.

It also moved into investment banking, insurance, credit cards, mortgage financing and depository services.

In April 2008, the bank had raised Rs600 crore through its Axis Infrastructure Fund, but shelved further fund raising plans due to the global economic slowdown.

At the AGM of the bank, the shareholders also approved the appointment of Shikha Sharma as the MD for five years following the sudden resignation of chairman and chief executive officer Pangal Jayendra Nayak, who ended his nine-year association with the bank, resigning in a huff. (See: Nayak leaves behind fine record at Axis Bank)

Nayak was instrumental in transforming what was perceived as a quasi-government bank into the third largest lender among private banks with the bank's net profit growing at a compounded annual growth rate of at least 40 per cent.