State Bank of India to raise around Rs9,576 crore through share sale

State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest lender, will raise up to Rs9,576 crore ($1.53 billion) through sale of shares to institutional investors or through a follow-on public offer.

Separately, the state-run lender will raise raise Rs2,000 crore through preferential issue of shares to the government, SBI said in a statement issued late on Friday.

SBI, which registered the steepest quarterly profit fall in more than two years in the quarter ended September 2013 amidt rising non-performing loans, is eager to raise funds and improve liquidity.

Arundhati Bhattacharya, who took over as the head of the state-run lender in October, had, earlier, announced plans to raise funds, including through a Rs5,000 crore bond issue, before the close of the financial year.

"(We have) not yet (decided the exact amount). But it would be in the range of about Rs5,000 crore. No timeframe but definitely before March end," Bhattacharya had said on the sidelines of the annual Bancon summit in Mumbai.

Bhattacharya said the bank will focus more on growing the retail book while extending loans to all the sectors where it sees viability.

She also said she expected inflation, which surged to 10 per cent in October, to cool down by January with the arrival of more food stocks into the market on good monsoons.

Bhattacharya said SBI is maintaining its credit growth target at 16-18 per cent despite the slowdown on the economic front.