SBI to raise $1 bn selling dollar bonds

State Bank of India, the country’s largest bank, was seeking to raise $700 million to $1 billion selling medium-term dollar bonds, Chief Financial Officer S S Ranjan said by telephone today. “There is a plan to sell overseas bonds,” Ranjan said. “Initial roadshows are going to be held.” He declined to provide details.

The money may help the bank in its effort to boost its overseas presence. The bank plans to set up 40 branches overseas, including four in the UK, where operations have grown 40 per cent annually in the last two years, Chairman Om Prakash Bhatt said last month.

The Mumbai-based lender increased in 2007 the total amount it plans to raise through the sale of medium-term notes to $5 billion from $2 billion.

The bank initiated its medium-term note program in November 2004 with a target amount of $1 billion, which was raised to $2 billion in August 2005, according to a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange.