Bank of India postpones Rs 30-bn QIP plan after govt nod to infuse capital

State-owned Bank of India (BoI) has deferred the (Rs 30-billion) Rs 3,000-crore capital raising plan through private placement of equity shares after the government's move to infuse Rs 22.57 billion (Rs 2,257 crore) capital into it, a top official said.

"We have postponed the QIP (Qualified Institutional Placement) as the government decided to infuse Rs 22.57 billion (Rs 2,257 crore) capital support into the bank obviating the need for the capital immediately," BoI Managing Director Dinabandhu Mohapatra told PTI.

So, there is now no need for QIP this financial year as more capital would also flow in through recap bonds, he said.

"The decision to drop the QIP plan has not been taken because of the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA). It was taken before the PCA (by RBI).

"Since some positive developments were taking place on resolution of stressed assets under NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) and the government had indicated more capital infusion, we decided to wait for the actual infusion on the book and then go to the market for QIP. This way we will get more value for our shares," he said.

It is to be noted that the bank has been placed under the PCA framework by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) following inspection of books in March 2017.

The central bank downgraded some of BoI's accounts impacting profitability as well as non-performing asset (NPA) position. As a result, the Common Equity Tier-I (CET1) came under pressure, necessitating the need for capital infusion for the government.

However, the bank expects to be out of RBI's watchlist soon as it has put in place an aggressive bad loan recovery strategy.

BoI had last tapped the market in November last year to raise Rs 5 billion (Rs 500 crore) capital through AT-I bonds.

Talking about other sources of raising capital, Mohapatra said that the bank is also looking at selling some of the non-core assets.

The bank has already floated a Request for Proposal (RFP) for selling its entire 29 per cent stake in STCI (formerly known as Securities Trading Corporation of India) Limited as part of the sale of its non-core assets, he said, adding that the transaction should happen this financial year itself.