Govt nod for hike in foreign investment in Axis Bank

 The government on Thursday approved increase in foreign investment limit in Axis Bank to 62 per cent entailing an inflow of about Rs 7,250 crore.

“The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the proposal of Axis Bank for increase in foreign investment from 49 per cent to 62 per cent.

“(This is) subject to the aggregate foreign institutional investors holding not exceeding 49 per cent of the paid up equity share capital of the bank,” an official statement said.

The approval would result in foreign investment of about Rs 7,250 crore in the country, it said.

Following the inflow and hike in stake by foreign investors, the bank will become foreign-owned, whereby every future investment in seven subsidiaries will be governed by the FDI (foreign direct investment) policy, according to sources.

As per the FDI policy, downstream investment by an Indian company, “which is not owned and/or controlled by a resident entity/ies into another Indian company would be in accordance or compliance with the relevant sectoral conditions on entry route”.

The bank’s seven subsidiaries are Axis Capital, Axis Finance, Axis Private Equity, Axis Trustee Services, Axis Asset Management Company, Axis Mutual Fund Trustee Ltd and Axis UK.

As of June this year, foreign institutional investment (FII) holding in the bank was at 40.7 per cent, while global depository receipts (GDRs) total 8.08 per cent.

The promoters of the bank are Life Insurance Corporation, General Insurance Corporation, New India Assurance, National Insurance Company and Administrator of Specialised Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India.

The bank's stock ended at Rs 1,298.2, up 1.21 per cent on the BSE on Thursday.