Punjab & Sind Bank plans Rs 3,000-cr share sale this fiscal

Public sector lender Punjab & Sind Bank is eying to mobilise up to Rs 3,000 crore via share sale on a private placement basis in a bid to meet the minimum public shareholding (MPS) norms of market regulator Sebi. As per Sebi norms, listed entities are required to have at least 25 per cent public shareholding. Currently, the government of India holds a 93.85 per cent stake in Punjab & Sind Bank. ''We have got board approval for raising up to Rs 3,000 crore from Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) or other means. We are in discussion with merchant bankers. We will soon start roadshows to engage with investors for proposed stake dilution,'' Punjab & Sind Bank managing director and CEO Swarup Kumar Saha told PTI. However, he said, timing and exact quantum would depend on market conditions, which are not very conducive at present. Besides, he said, the board has also approved Rs 5,000 crore infrastructure bonds and Rs 2,000 crore from Tier I and Tier II bonds to fund credit growth. The bank had done a maiden issuance of infrastructure bonds in December 2024. Saha said the bank has fully deployed the funds raised from its first infra bonds. Domestic investors have shown a lot of interest in such bond issuance by banks, and many lenders have exercised this option for raising resources in the recent past. The advantage of infrastructure bonds is that they are exempt from regulatory reserve requirements such as the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR). So, infrastructure bond proceeds can be fully deployed for lending activities. Banks have been preferring infrastructure bonds over AT-1 and Tier-2 bonds, as they are better priced. During the fourth quarter ended March 2026, Punjab & Sind Bank reported a 35 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 422 crore as against Rs 313 crore in the same period a year ago, helped by a decline in bad loans. Total income moderated to Rs 3,457 crore from Rs 3,836 crore a year ago, Punjab & Sind Bank said in a regulatory filing. On the asset quality front, the bank's gross Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) eased to 2.4 per cent of gross advances, as compared to 3.38 per cent by the end of March 2025. Similarly, net NPAs came down to 0.79 per cent from 0.96 per cent earlier. The bank's capital adequacy ratio improved marginally to 17.42 per cent, from 17.41 per cent at the end of FY25. For the entire financial year 2025-26, the bank reported a 30 per cent increase in profit at Rs 1,322 crore, as against Rs 1,016 crore in the previous year. Total income rose to Rs 13,759 crore from Rs 13,049 crore. The bank's board has recommended a dividend of 39 paise per equity share of face value of Rs 10 each for 2025-26, subject to shareholders' approval.

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