Govt sells Axis Bank stake for over $900 mln - sources

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The government has raised more than $900 million by selling a 9 percent stake in Axis Bank Ltd, two sources with direct knowledge of the development said on Friday.

The government held 20.7 percent in Axis Bank, India's third-largest private-sector bank by assets, via a trust fund called Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (SUUTI), before the stake sale.

The share sale was launched on Thursday in the indicative price band of roughly 1,290 rupees to 1,357 rupees a share, a discount of as much as 5 percent from its closing price on Thursday of 1,357.35 rupees.

 

The issue is part of the government's campaign to raise revenues and meet its revised fiscal deficit target of 4.6 percent of gross domestic product in the financial year ending on March 31.

(Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Sunil Nair)