Sbi Caps Foreign Ally In 2 Months

SBI Capital Markets, the merchant banking subsidiary of the State Bank of India, will take a final decision on a foreign partner in the next two months, according to a senior official of the company.

The Asian Development Bank already has a stake in SBI Caps with SBI holding the majority stake.

SBI chairman Janaki Ballabh told newspersons that a further hardening of interest rates was not on the cards.

"The interest rates are very reasonable and will continue to remain soft," Ballabh said.

He said the economy was on the upswing with credit offtake sharply increasing in June. "The trend has been reversed with credit offtake increasing in June in contrast to April when it was very low," he said.

SBI will also start its own operations in Russia and Sydney, through its own subsidiaries and would expand to other destinations depending on demand, Ballabh said.

Earlier, the SBI launched its ATM network and internet banking in the city, with Karnataka governor V S Rama Devi inaugurating it.

The new ATM facility will connect 17 ATMs in the city with the ATM network of the bank in 8 cities.