Bank of Maharashtra seeks to raise Rs500 crore per year

08 Jul 2009

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.