PSB IPO likely next month

State-owned Punjab & Sind Bank is likely to hit the capital market by November this year. The probable date for the initial public offer (IPO), in which the government-owned bank plans to raise Rs 500-600 crore, is next month.

P K Anand, executive director, told Business Standard, “We will dilute 17.93 per cent government stake.” This translated into 40 million shares, he said. The government owns 100 per cent at present.

At the end of 2009-10, the bank had deposits of Rs 49,500 crore, while advances were Rs 32, 500 crore. It posted an 18 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 508.8 crore, compared to Rs 431.1 crore the previous year. The bank’s capital adequacy ratio is 12.73 per cent.

It has 920 branches across India, about 450 of these in Punjab. Anand said it was planning to open 100 branches and 180 ATMs by the end of this financial year. Of these, 40 branches and 35 ATMs would be in Punjab. The bank is in the process of hiring 2,000 personnel for the expansion.

Anand said Wipro had been hired to make all branches centralised banking solutions-enabled. Initially, Satyam had the contract, which was given to Wipro after the accounting scam in the former.