State Bank of India looks to maintain at least 15% CAR: Chairman C S Setty

Expects three Indian lenders to be among Top-10 global banks in terms of mcap by 2030

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State Bank of India (SBI) will maintain at least 15 per cent capital adequacy ratio (CAR), with common equity tier 1 (CET1) capital of 12 per cent, all through to support growth and enhance capacity to absorb shocks, according to its Chairman C S Setty.

 

He expects three Indian banks — SBI and two private sector banking entities — to be among the Top-10 global banks in terms of market capitalisation (mcap) by 2030.

 

"It takes time to build CAR. We will be reaching this 12 per cent (CET1) and 15 per cent (CAR) by the end of this year (March 2026),” Setty told media on Friday on the sidelines of SBI Banking and Economics Conclave.

 

The SBI chairman said it (singal on CAR) is more in terms of giving comfort to the industry that our capital ratios are reasonable. The transition to expected credit loss (ECL) for provisioning is not to consume much capital, he added.

 

The country's largest lender’s CAR stood at 14.62 per cent, with a CET1 of 11.47 per cent, at the end of September 2025. It raised ₹25,000 crore in equity capital from institutional investors in the second quarter of 2025-26 (Q2FY26), helping to improve CET1 ratio. SBI has also benefitted from divestment of stake in private sector lender Yes Bank. It is also expected to gain from the proposed sale of 6.3 per cent stake in SBI Funds Management Limited (SBIFML) through an initial public offering (IPO).

 

Referring to the global standing of SBI, Setty said after reaching $100 billion mcap, now the aim is to be in the Top-10 global banks, maybe around 2030. But SBI may not be the only bank from India. "We have two major private sector banks where mcap is significant. I think they also will move along with us,” Setty said.

 

Asked about the contribution of segments in credit growth, he said while it will be a mix of many segments, retail loans would have a significantly large share. At the time of announcing Q2 results, SBI had said that with goods and services tax (GST) rationalisation and tax sops, there was a strong uptick in credit in the auto and housing sector.

 

Setty said there would be considerable contributions from the corporate segment to the loan book. This segment has 33 per cent share in the total loan book. SBI is targeting 10 per cent growth in corporate loan book. The bank has revised its overall credit growth target for FY26 to 12-14 per cent, up from the earlier projection of 11 per cent.