Indian Bank to appoint merchant banker for stake dilution

State-owned Indian Bank would appoint a merchant banker to dilute stake as per SEBI norms, a top official of the bank said today.

"Presently, government holding in the bank is 82 per cent which has to be brought down to 75 per cent as per SEBI norms by March 2019", MD and CEO of Indian Bank Kishor Kharat said.

The bank is going to appoint a merchant banker in this regard, he told reporters on the sidelines of a Merchants' Chamber of Commerce and Industry session here today.

Kharat said the bank doesn't need any capital at the moment, and the stake dilution would have to be done by going to the market to meet the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) norms.

The modalities of stake dilution would be decided later and the bank would seek an opportune time to hit the market, he said.

Kharat added that the bank is expecting a business growth of 12-14 per cent by March 2018.

Gross Non Performing Assets (NPA) of the bank stood at 7.25 per cent while net NPA was at 4.05 per cent. The bank's capital adequacy ratio stood at 13.58 per cent.