PNB rules out capital raising through public issue

New Delhi, Jun 18 (UNI) The country's leading nationalised bank Punjab National Bank (PNB) today ruled out any plans for raising capital through issue of public shares in this fiscal.

''There is no such possibility atleast in this fiscal,'' said PNB newly appointed Chairman and Managing Director K C Chakrabarty.

The bank will raise five billion rupees in Tier-I debt and another ten billion rupees in Tier-II by the end of this fiscal.

Earlier the bank had said that it may go for public issue and dilute the government holdings to 51 per cent by March 2008.

Mr Chakrabarty has also ruled out any possibility of the bank's merger and acquisition in this fiscal.

''We are not looking at acquiring any bank as the time has not yet come,'' he said.

The bank will open a branch office in Hong Kong.

''We will be able to open the branch after compliance with various issues which would take around six months,'' Mr Chakrabarty added.

The bank has one foreign branch at Kabul, besides representatives offices at Shanghai, Almaty (Kazakhstan), Dubai (UAE) and a wholly owned subsidiary at London.

Further the bank plans to open offices at Singapore (Offshore Banking Unit) and Canada (Subsidiary).

Mr Chakrabarty said the bank will maintain the net interest margin of four per cent in future.

''This will be maintained through asset-liability and risk management,'' he added.

Mr Chakarbarty also expected interest rates to remain stable in near future.

"I don't see interest rates rising in short term," he said.

The bank was targeting loan growth of about 20 per cent and deposit growth of about 18 per cent this fiscal year, he said.

UNI