JOIN US"We will be raising between USD 175 and USD 200 million through the medium-term notes (MTN) issue in the next one or two months," UBI Chairman and Managing Director MV Nair told reporters on the sidelines of the annual Bancon here today, adding the bank also did road shows in Switzerland for the same recently.
Meanwhile, UBI's peer from the public sector banks space, Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) Chairman and Managing Director M Narendra told reporters that it is also drawing up plans to come out with an MTN issue.
He, however, did not divulge details of the timing and the amount of funds IOB intends to raise through the issue.
Apart from the MTN issue, UBI is also expecting Rs 1,200 crore capital infusion from the government in the next three to four months, Nair said.Moreover, UBI also has a headroom to get a capital infusion of Rs 4,500 crore in tier-II and perpetual bonds, Nair said, adding the timing of the infusion and quantum of the money to be raised is yet to be decided.
IOB's Narendra said his bank will have headroom to raise Rs 3,000 crore through domestic bonds issue by March next.
According to Nair, there has been some improvement in the deposits situation in the recent months as the real interest rate has returned to the positive territory and expects healthy deposit growth going forward.
UBI's exposure to the troubled microfinance sector is limited to Rs 291 crore extended to 45 organisations, Nair said, maintaining that the bank will continue lending to the sector despite the recent concerns, as MFIs play an important role in the society.
A majority of banks have stopped lending to MFIs after an Ordinance was issued by Andhra Pradesh, the largest MFI market in the country, to regulate the sector following complaints against the highhandedness of their recovery agents and the alleged suicides by some borrowers due to pressure from MFI collection agents.
On commercial real estate exposure, another contentious issue brought to the fore after the cash-for-loans scam, Nair said UBI's realty exposure is limited to just 2.2 per cent of its loan book and all of them are performing assets.
As part of its international expansion programme, UBI is awaiting approval to open branches in Dubai and Belgium and does not have any plans of an overseas acquisition at present, Nair said.On the hiring side, he said the bank plans to hire 2,000 people this fiscal.