Mumbai – September, 2021: State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, has raised Rs. 4,000 crore of the Basel compliant Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds, on Wednesday at coupon rate of 7.72%. This is the first AT1 Bond issuance in the domestic market post the new SEBI regulations. The issue garnered overwhelming response from investors with bids in excess of Rs. 10,000 crores received against a base issue size of Rs. 1,000 crores which is an indicator of the trust the investors place on the country’s largest Bank. This also very clearly demonstrates the maturity of the Indian Investors in their selection of Issuers for such instruments.
Based on the response, the Bank has decided to accept Rs. 4,000 crores at a coupon of 7.72%. This is the lowest pricing ever offered on such debt, issued by any Indian bank since the implementation of Basel III capital rules in 2013. The AT 1 instrument is perpetual in nature, however, it can be called back by the issuer after five years or any anniversary date thereafter.
While the Bank has AAA credit rating from local credit agencies, the AT1 offering is rated AA+, which is the highest rating in the country for these instruments in view of the hybrid and high-risk nature of these instruments.
About State Bank of India:State Bank of India is the largest commercial bank in terms of assets, deposits, branches, customers, and employees. It is also the largest mortgage lender in the country which has so far fulfilled the home buying dreams of 30 lakh Indian families. The home loan portfolio of the bank has crossed the milestone of Rs. 5 lakh crore. As on June 30, 2021, the bank has a deposit base of over Rs. 37 lakh crore with CASA ratio of nearly 46% and advances of more than Rs. 27 lakh crore. SBI commands a market share of 34.77% and about 31.11% in home loans and auto loans segment respectively. SBI has the largest network of 22,224 branches and 63,906 ATM / CDM in India with 71,705 BC outlets. The number of customers using internet banking and mobile banking stand roughly at 91 million and 20 million respectively. The integrated digital and lifestyle platform by SBI – YONO has close to 36 million registered users, which witnesses approximately 11 million logins per day. Accelerating the digital agenda, around 1.5 lakh accounts have been opened through YONO in the quarter ended June 2021. In terms of digital lending, the bank disbursed personal loans of around Rs. 2430 crore through the YONO mobile app in the same quarter. On social media platforms, SBI has the highest number of followers on Facebook and Twitter amongst all banks worldwide.
