State Bank Of India

Sept 11 (Reuters) - India's Asset Reconstruction Company's (ARCIL) ASSR.NS 7.33 billion rupee ($77.58 million) initial public offering was subscribed 10.67 times, as of 2:36 p.m. IST on Friday, the final day of bidding, exchange data showed.

Shares are likely to list on September 17, making ARCIL India's first listed asset reconstruction company.

Here are more details:

• The company received orders for 393.96 million shares, against 36.9 million on offer.

• Qualified institutional buyers bid for 29.22 times the shares set aside for them, while retail and non-institutional investors subscribed 5.7 times and 2.2 times, respectively

• The IPO is entirely an offer for sale, where existing shareholders fully or partially offload their stake, of up to 52.73 million shares at a price band of 132 rupees-139 rupees per share, as per the red herring prospectus

• Co seeks valuation of 45.16 billion ​rupees at the upper end of the price band

• Its top shareholders Avenue India Resurgence, owned by New York-headquartered investment firm Avenue Capital Group, and India's top lender State Bank of India SBI.NS plan to offload 24.82 million and 10.96 million shares, respectively

• ARCIL, which was established in 2002, acquires stressed assets from banks and financial institutions and seeks to recover value through restructuring, settlements and enforcement processes.

• Anchor investors, including Goldman Sachs India Asset Management, WhiteOak Capital and Bandhan Mutual Fund, invested 2.2 billion rupees in the IPO ahead of its public launch.

• ARCIL's assets under management stood at 201.5 billion rupees as of March-end, while collections fell to 34.84 billion rupees in fiscal 2026 from 38.83 billion rupees a year earlier.

(Reporting by Urvi Dugar and Vivek Kumar M in Bengaluru; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)

(([email protected]; +91 9558725583;))

Rewrites paragraph 1 & 2

Sept 11 (Reuters) - National Stock Exchange of India NSEI.NS is seeking a valuation of up to 4.42 trillion rupees ($46.31 billion) through its long-awaited IPO, which launches next week and could rank among India's biggest-ever listings.

NSE set a price band of 1,700-1,785 rupees ($17.81-$18.70) per share for the IPO, a public filing showed early Friday. The targeted valuation, at the top of the range, would make NSE one of the country's most valuable companies and within reach of Nasdaq NDAQ.O and London Stock Exchange Group LSEG.L.

India's largest bourse had on Thursday cut the size of its IPO by more than 15% as some top investors trimmed the number of shares they intended to sell, which a source told Reuters was primarily on account of a lower-than-expected price band.

The $2.36 billion IPO will likely trail an upcoming offering by billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio expected to raise $3.8 billion and Hyundai Motor India's HYUN.NS $3.3 billion issue in 2024.

The offering comes after years of delays and at a time when India's IPO market is regaining momentum after a sluggish start to the year.

NSE's share sale will open for subscription on September 17 and close on September 21, with anchor investor bidding scheduled for September 16. The stock is expected to list on or about September 24.

NSE, the country's biggest exchange by trading volumes, dominates the derivatives market and has benefited from a surge in retail trading in the world's most populous country.

PRICING LOWER THAN EXPECTED

NSE is not selling new shares in the IPO and will not receive proceeds. Existing investors including State Bank of India SBI.NS and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board are offloading a total 126.4 million shares, down from the 148.91 million planned earlier.

SBI is selling the most shares at about 16 million, while its unit SBI Capital Markets was added to the list of selling shareholders. MS Strategic (Mauritius) - a Morgan Stanley fund, is selling 31% fewer shares at 11 million.

The primary reason for the reduced share sales is the lower-than-expected price band, with shareholders believing they will get a better valuation in the secondary market post listing, a source told Reuters on Thursday ahead of the official pricing announcement.

In an informal market where unlisted shares of NSE trade, the price has ranged from 2,000 rupees to 2,100 rupees, according to recent deals.

Tighter market rules have weighed on the likely pricing of the issue, three sources said.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India last year announced tighter curbs on retail participation in the options trading market. Tighter bank funding curbs, higher taxes on derivatives trading and India's newly launched closing auction session have also weighed on trading volumes.

In the quarter ended June 30, NSE's net profit rose 6.7% to 31.2 billion rupees, while revenue from operations rose 13% to 45.6 billion rupees.

($1 = 95.4400 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Chandini Monnappa, Kanjyik Ghosh, Vivek Kumar M, Chris Thomas; Editing by Diti Pujara and Shailesh Kuber)

(([email protected]; https://www.linkedin.com/in/chandini-monnappa-8a37b013b/;))

State Bank of India received strike notices from the United Forum of Bank Unions, representing seven employee and officer unions, for September 11, September 28-30 and a continuous strike from October 26, 2026. The bank said it had made arrangements for normal functioning at its branches and offices, although work was likely to be affected on the strike dates. SBI's standalone total income was about ₹5.52 lakh crore in FY26, with retail banking accounting for roughly 48% of its business mix. More than 90% of its operations were domestic, while gross non-performing assets stood at 1.47% in the June 2026 quarter.

Powered by Tijori

Sept 7 (Reuters) - State Bank of India SBI.NS:

• NOTICE OF STRIKE SERVED BY UNITED FORUM OF BANK UNIONS

• IT IS LIKELY THAT WORK IN BANK MAY BE IMPACTED BY THE STRIKE

Further company coverage: SBI.NS

(([email protected];))

Aug 31 (Reuters) - State Bank of India SBI.NS:

• BINOD KUMAR MISHRA TO RETIRE AS DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR (SPECIAL PROJECTS - OPR) ON AUG 31, 2026

Source text:

Further company coverage: SBI.NS

(([email protected];))

By Dharamraj Dhutia

MUMBAI, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Union Bank of India UNBK.NS has accepted bids worth $600 million for a public sale of U.S. dollar-denominated bonds through its Dubai branch, its first such issuance in more than 12 years, two merchant bankers said on Tuesday.

The bank raised $300 million each through three-year and five-year papers at a coupon of 5.23% and 5.4170%, respectively, the lender said in a notice to stock exchanges.

The three-year bonds were priced at 93 basis points above U.S. Treasuries, while the five-year tenor is priced at 102 bps above Treasuries, sharply below the bank's initial guidance of 120 bps and 130 bps.

The lender is the third state-run bank to tap the dollar debt market through the public route since June, when the central bank announced a discounted hedging facility that lowers the cost of borrowing for financial institutions.

India's top two state-run lenders, State Bank of India SBI.NS and Bank of Baroda BOB.NS, have raised $500 million and $700 million, respectively, through a public sale, with the former also adding $600 million through the private route.

Separately, IDFC First Bank IDFB.NS also raised $350 million through a private placement of five-year securities through its GIFT City branch, a week after the lender raised $600 million through three-year debt.

Banks have been scrambling to complete their dollar issuances, with most funds being used to provide leverage to customers who will deposit them under the RBI's discounted dollar deposit scheme.

Earlier this month, the RBI said the window provided to banks for hedging non-resident deposits would end a month early, on August 31.

The rush has prompted a wave of offshore fundraising by Indian lenders, which raised $11.25 billion through bond issuances from June to August.

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

(([email protected];))

By Dharamraj Dhutia and Khushi Malhotra

MUMBAI, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Indian lenders are rushing dollar loan and bond issues over the next two weeks after the central bank unexpectedly advanced the end date for an FX swap facility that banks were using for hedging exposure to deposits raised from diaspora.

As part of a raft of measures to boost inflows, lenders were permitted to use these overseas borrowings to offer loans to non-resident Indians. Banks' overseas fundraising had also been subsidised.

Now, with the Reserve Bank of India announcing the closure of the forex swap window for August 31, a month earlier than initially planned, Indian private and state-run banks are on track to raise at least $5 billion through a combination of bonds and loans, four bankers said.

"Some of the fund raising plans have been brought forward to utilize the last few days," Akshay Naik, India head of debt capital markets at Citi, said.

"We will have one of the busiest windows for the next 6-8 days from India. Few institutions who are not ready may need to drop their plan if it was solely meant for FCNR leverage."

Large private-sector lenders such as ICICI Bank ICBK.NS and HDFC Bank HDBK.NS are in talks to raise about $1.5 billion each via dollar bonds and loans, while peers including Axis Bank AXBK.NS, YES Bank YESB.NS, RBL Bank RATB.NS and Kotak Mahindra Bank KTKM.NS are planning to raise at least $500 million each through overseas debt markets, bankers said.

State-run lenders State Bank of India SBI.NS, Bank of Baroda BOB.NS, Punjab National Bank PNBK.NS, Canara Bank CNBK.NS, Union Bank of India UNBK.NS, Bank of India BOI.NS and Central Bank of India CBI.NS are targeting dollar raises of $250 million to $500 million each, with the larger banks likely to target bigger issues, the bankers said.

None of the lenders replied to Reuters emails seeking comment.

All the bankers declined to be named as the discussions are private.

BANKS ON TRACK FOR RECORD DOLLAR FUNDRAISING

Indian lenders have raised a combined $5.93 billion through dollar bond sales and loans so far this year, according to LSEG data through August 11.

The tally has climbed by another $1.2 billion, following debt sales by two large state-run lenders last week.

Over the last 15 years, banks' annual foreign borrowing topped $6 billion on three occasions, including in 2013, when the RBI had opened a swap window.

"Would expect $5-7 billion of additional bond and loan issuances for the remainder of year," Naik said.

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia and Khushi Malhotra; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)

(([email protected]; [email protected]))

By Dharamraj Dhutia

MUMBAI, Aug 13 (Reuters) - India's Bank of Baroda BOB.NS is considering dollar funding, a day after its peer State Bank of India, the country's largest lender by assets, received strong demand for its foreign-currency bonds, two merchant bankers said on Thursday.

BOB, India's second largest state-run lender by assets, plans to raise funds through a dual-tranche bond issue maturing in three years and five years, and has provided initial guidance.

The bank has offered a spread of 120 basis points above U.S. Treasury for the three-year option and 130 bps on the five-year sale, the bankers added, requesting anonymity as they are not authorised to speak to media.

BOB did not reply to a Reuters email seeking comment.

"Ideally, they are eyeing $500 million through each maturity, but if the cutoffs are aggressive, they could choose to upsize one of the maturities," one of the bankers quoted above said.

Indian banks have been making a beeline for dollar issues after the Reserve Bank of India's swap facility announced in June made overseas borrowing cheaper.

State Bank of India SBI.NS on Wednesday raised $500 million through a five-year issue at 5.25% coupon payable semi-annually. The issue was sold at a spread of 88 bps over Treasuries, sharply lower from a guidance of 120 bps, with bidding nearly touching $2.5 billion.

Private peers such as HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank also raised funds through dollar bonds in June and July.

Bank of Baroda will issue these papers through its branch in International Financial Service Centre Banking unit at GIFT City. The proceeds will be used towards funding requirements of the bank's head office as well as foreign branches, along with general corporate purposes.

The bonds will be rated BBB, BBB– and BBB+ by S&P, Fitch Ratings and CareEdge Ratings, in line with the issuer's ratings.

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)

(([email protected];))

By Dharamraj Dhutia

MUMBAI, Aug 12 (Reuters) - State Bank of India SBI.NS, the country's largest lender, drew strong demand in its return to the public dollar bond market after nearly a year, with pricing tightening sharply from initial guidance, three merchant bankers said on Wednesday.

SBI raised $500 million through a five-year dollar bond issued via its London branch, the lender said in a stock exchange filing late on Tuesday.

These bonds will be priced at a spread of 88 basis points over U.S. Treasuries, sharply below initial guidance of 120 bps. The notes carry a coupon of 5.25%, payable semi-annually.

The final spread was broadly in line with CreditSights' expectation of 90 basis points, although the research firm expects it to tighten further to around 80 basis points in the secondary market.

Spreads on dollar bonds issued by Indian borrowers have widened in recent weeks on expectations of heavy supply following the Reserve Bank of India's swap concession window, while demand has been tempered by attractive rates on foreign-currency deposits.

"As we had anticipated, some of this spread premium has begun to fade as supply is absorbed... We have an outperform recommendation on SBI," CreditSights analysts said in a note.

The lender witnessed tightest pricing, after ICICI Bank sold notes at 100 bps, while HDFC Bank sold notes at a spread of 90 bps over Treasuries.

SBI had planned to raise $1 billion through a public dollar bond issue in June, but deferred the sale due to higher borrowing costs following heavy issuance by Indian lenders.

The bank subsequently raised $600 million through a private placement of three-year dollar bonds at a spread of 100 basis points over the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR).

The issue comes at a time when Indian banks are making a beeline for dollar issues after the RBI's swap facility announced in June made overseas borrowing cheaper.

Large private lenders, including HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank have raised funds through dollar bonds in June and July.

Meanwhile, bankers expect SBI to tap the market again in a few weeks for raising dollars, as the board has approved raising of up to $2 billion through bonds sold in dollar or any other major currency in this financial year.

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

(([email protected];))

Recasts with details and context

By Dharamraj Dhutia

MUMBAI, Aug 11 (Reuters) - State Bank of India SBI.NS, the country's largest lender, is returning to the public dollar bond market after nearly a year and is expected to see strong demand for its planned five-year issue, three merchant bankers said on Tuesday.

The bonds will be issued through SBI's London branch, with initial price guidance set at roughly 120 basis points over U.S. Treasuries.

The issue comes at a time when Indian banks are making a beeline for dollar issues after the Reserve Bank of India in June a opened a swap facility, making overseas borrowing cheaper.

SBI is expected to raise at least $500 million, although the final size will depend on investor demand.

The lender has begun marketing the bonds and is expected to complete the sale by the end of the week, the bankers said, declining to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

SBI did not immediately respond to a Reuters email seeking comment.

One banker said SBI was offering a sizeable spread premium, although final pricing could tighten by as much as 30 basis points. The banker also expected the deal size to reach $1 billion or more.

Fitch Ratings has assigned an expected BBB- rating to the proposed senior unsecured notes.

The notes will be direct, unsecured and unsubordinated obligations of SBI, ranking equally with its other unsecured and unsubordinated debt, the rating agency said.

SBI had planned to raise $1 billion through a public dollar bond issue in June, but deferred the sale due to higher borrowing costs following heavy issuance by Indian lenders.

The bank subsequently raised $600 million through a private placement of three-year dollar bonds at a spread of 100 basis points over the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR).

Large private lenders, including HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank, raised funds through dollar bonds in June and July.

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

(([email protected];))

** Shares of State Bank of India SBI.NS rise 2.29% to 1,109.90 rupees

** Stock on track for a third consecutive session of gains, if trend holds

** The country's largest lender by assets reports 10% year-on-year rise in June-quarter profit to 211.21 billion rupees ($2.22 billion)

** SBI's net interest income, the difference between interest earned on loans and paid on deposits, grew near 15% to 469.92 billion rupees in the June quarter - Reuters calculation

** SBI stock rated "buy" on average by 36 analysts, median PT at 1200 rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG

** YTD, stock up 13.28%

($1 = 95.2700 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Surbhi Misra in Bengaluru)

(([email protected] | X: https://twitter.com/SurbhiMisra_ |;))

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

By Shritama Bose

MUMBAI, Aug 4 (Reuters Breakingviews) - India's banks may need to take some lessons in layoffs from Wall Street. Staffing levels at HDFC Bank HDBK.NS, ICICI, Axis AXBK.NS and Kotak Mahindra KTKM.NS fell by up to 4% during the 12 months to the end of March after years of increases. It's largely the result of businesses maturing, revenue growth slowing and more tasks getting automated. Goldman Sachs GS.N, Morgan Stanley MS.N and others routinely dump more. But India generally frowns on making people redundant. AI is likely to force its financial services firms – and others – to look past the taboo and embrace deeper cuts.

Western lenders and investment banks tend to slash their ranks when a downturn hits. But some, like Goldman, also oust those performing poorly – as much as 5% of employees – each year. By that metric, their Indian peers are only dabbling. Moreover, natural attrition seems to account for most, if not all, of the reductions.

That does the job for now as the businesses weaken somewhat. Total revenue at $41 billion Axis for the financial year to the end of March grew at nearly a quarter of its pace the previous year, while Kotak's fell slightly. Yet the compensation ratio for both, and for $122 billion HDFC, stayed flat, suggesting the softly-softly downsizing is working, Breakingviews calculates, using data disclosed by the lenders. Increased outsourcing of tasks like loan collection and IT management weighs on headcount too.

The rise of automation, though, whether due to AI or less advanced technology, is likely to increase pressure to reduce staff numbers. A substantial share of new business, for example, now comes from attracting new retail customers digitally, reducing the need to keep expanding and staffing branches. And AI capabilities are making humans increasingly redundant at routine functions like fraud monitoring and data analysis.

At Axis Bank, where staff numbers fell 3%, CEO Amitabh Chaudhry has set targets that include using AI to automate and augment half of its customer calls in the current financial year. HDFC, which reported a 2% workforce reduction, is applying AI to retail credit decisions and trade transactions.

As banks commit to adopting AI across a growing chunk of their operations, more job functions will have to go, though they are likely to find more productive jobs for some. The impact will eventually show up at government-owned lenders like State Bank of India SBI.NS and intensify a slow-burn shrinkage underway there for years.

Their executives are likely to rely on natural attrition, retirements and reduced hiring for as long as possible. But the bigger the impact of AI and the more their businesses mature, the greater the chance that they will have to follow Wall Street's lead by breaking with convention to give more people the boot.

Follow Shritama Bose on LinkedIn and X.

CONTEXT NEWS

HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank reported an up to 4% year-on-year fall in their employee counts as of March 31.

In its annual report for the 12 months ended March, released on July 11, HDFC said the number of permanent employees on its rolls stood at 211,178, 2% lower than the level as on March 31, 2025. ICICI's filings show a 4% fall in the metric to 124,029, while Axis and Kotak reported declines of 3% and 1% respectively.

(Editing by Antony Currie; Production by Aditya Srivastav and Ujjaini Dutta)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on BOSE/[email protected]))

MUMBAI, Aug 3 (Reuters) - State Bank of India SBI.NS, HSBC HSBA.L and ICICI Bank ICBK.NS have garnered the largest amounts under a central bank scheme to attract dollar deposits from non-resident Indians, government data showed on Monday.

HSBC's India unit raised about $6.14 billion, the most among lenders, while State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, garnered about $4.12 billion between June 5 and July 30, the data showed.

ICICI Bank led private-sector peers with about $3.7 billion in deposits under the scheme. HDFC Bank and Axis Bank, the country's largest and third-largest private lenders respectively, raised about $1.5 billion each.

The central bank's measures, the likes of which were last deployed in 2013 to deal with the Federal Reserve's taper tantrum, were rolled out following a period of sustained depreciation pressure on the rupee.

The currency had declined to a record low in May but has steadied after the measures were announced in June.

The steps are intended to "attract stable foreign currency inflows, strengthen India's balance of payments and help ease recent pressures on the Indian Rupee," Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary told the lower house of the Parliament on Monday.

Combined, banks' stock of overseas foreign-currency deposits has grown by nearly $28 billion between June 5 and July 30, reflecting the fresh deposits raised under the scheme.

The Reserve Bank of India said on Saturday the scheme had attracted total inflows of $36.7 billion. The difference likely reflects existing foreign-currency deposits that were rebooked under the scheme.

Outstanding foreign currency non-resident (bank), or FCNR(B), deposits rose to $60.55 billion from $32.56 billion on June 5.

"The pace of capital inflows under FCNR(B), external commercial borrowings and overseas foreign currency borrowings has been much stronger than expected. Total inflows across instruments are likely to be $90 billion, if not higher," IDFC First Bank said in a note.

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia and Jaspreet Kalra in Mumbai; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)

(([email protected];))

By Dharamraj Dhutia

MUMBAI, July 31 (Reuters) - Strong demand for India's largest state-run lender's perpetual bond issue is expected to encourage similar offerings from other banks, four merchant bankers said on Friday.

Several banks also have outstanding perpetual bonds with call options due this financial year, which could prompt them to raise fresh perpetual debt, they said.

Perpetual bonds are debt securities that do not have a maturity date. Most such issues give investors an exit via call options, most commonly after end of five years.

Earlier this week, State Bank of India SBI.NS raised 46.91 billion rupees ($492 million), through sale of Basel III compliant additional Tier I perpetual bonds, with a call option at end of five years.

"A successful SBI issuance could provide an important pricing benchmark and encourage other banks to evaluate AT-1 issuances during the year," said Saurav Ghosh, co-founder of Jiraaf, an online debt trading platform.

Banks are likely to continue strengthening their capital buffers to support credit growth and balance-sheet expansion, he said.

SBI will pay an annual coupon of 7.75% to the investors and drew bids worth over 60 billion rupees with provident funds, pension funds, mutual funds and some lenders subscribing to the securities.

"SBI's cut-off broadly reflects prevailing market expectations and indicates that institutional demand remained resilient across investor segments despite heightened market volatility," said Venkatakrishnan Srinivasan, founder and managing partner of debt advisory firm Rockfort Fincap.

Five large state-run banks including SBI have call option due for perpetual bonds worth 307 billion rupees over the next eight months of this fiscal.

SBI has 140 billion rupees in bonds due for a call option, while Union Bank of India and Canara Bank will offer an exit to investors on debt worth 60 billion rupees and 40 billion rupees respectively.

Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda also have perpetual bonds worth an aggregate of around 67 billion rupees, for which the call options are due later this year.

($1 = 95.4350 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)

(([email protected];))

MUMBAI, July 29 (Reuters) - State Bank of India SBI.NS has accepted bids worth 46.91 billion rupees ($490.04 million) for sale of Basel III-compliant additional Tier I perpetual bonds, three bankers said on Wednesday.

The nation's largest lender will pay an annual coupon of 7.75% on this issue and had invited coupon and commitment bids earlier in the day, they said.

The issue will have a call option at the end of five years.

On Friday, Reuters reported SBI's plans to tap the perpetual debt route, which would be the first such issuance in 2026.

SBI did not immediately reply to a Reuters email seeking comment.

Here is the list of deals reported so far on July 29:

*Size includes base plus greenshoe for some issues

($1 = 95.7275 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia and Khushi Malhotra)

(([email protected]))

MUMBAI, July 28 (Reuters) - State Bank of India SBI.NS plans to raise 50 billion rupees ($521.38 million), including 20 billion rupees of greenshoe option through the sale of Basel III-compliant additional Tier I perpetual bonds, three bankers said on Tuesday.

The nation's largest lender has invited coupon and commitment bids for the issue on Wednesday, they said.

The issue will have a call option at the end of five years.

On Friday, Reuters reported SBI's plans to tap the perpetual debt route, which would be the first such issuance in 2026.

SBI did not immediately reply to a Reuters email seeking comment.

Here is the list of deals reported so far on July 28:

*Size includes base plus greenshoe for some issues

($1 = 95.9000 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Khushi Malhotra and Dharamraj Dhutia; Editing by Priyanka G)

(([email protected]))

Adds margin guidance in paragraph 2, management commentary in paragraph 7

By Nishit Navin

BENGALURU, July 24 (Reuters) - India's SBI Life Insurance SBIL.NS reported a 22% rise in first-quarter profit on Friday, helped by strong demand for retail policies and higher premiums from group insurance.

The insurer also said it expects increased contribution of higher-margin individual policies in new businesses to drive up overall margins.

Net profit rose to 7.25 billion rupees ($75.11 million) for the quarter ended June 30, from 5.94 billion rupees a year earlier.

Annualised premium equivalent (APE), a standard measure of new business that combines regular and single premiums, jumped 36% to 53.8 billion rupees amid a fourfold increase in group insurance.

Value of new business margin — a measure of expected profit from new policies sold — fell to 26.2% from 27.4% a year earlier, near the lower end of the company's expected 26% to 28% range.

Overall margin shrank due to a sharp uptick in the share of lower-margin group business, booked in large, uneven batches, among new business during the quarter.

"We have definitely seen the margin bottoming out," SBI Life MD and CEO Amit Jhingran said in a post-earnings call. "Going forward, with higher focus on individual policies, margin is going to be towards the upper range of our guidance."

Last week, ICICI Prudential posted a near-15% rise in APE, while HDFC Life posted a 9% growth.

SBI Life's net premium income increased around 17% to 200.78 billion rupees. First-year premiums from new policies grew 40%, while renewal premiums increased 17.4%.

In the individual business, the share of non-participating policies — which typically carry higher margins as insurers do not share profits with policyholders — jumped to 49% from 38% a year earlier.

($1 = 96.5300 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Nishit Navin; Editing by Eileen Soreng and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)

(([email protected];))

July 21 (Reuters) - SBI Funds Management SBIA.NS listed at a 6.85% premium to its issue price on Tuesday after $1.03 billion initial public offering last week, buoyed by strong growth prospects in India's $853 billion asset management industry.

SBI Funds Management, a joint venture between State Bank of India SBI.NS, the country's largest lender, and Amundi AMUN.PA, Europe's biggest asset manager, oversaw assets worth 12.5 trillion rupees ($131 billion) as of March 2026, making it India's largest asset manager.

Its shares listed at 613.3 rupees on the National Stock Exchange of India, up 6.85% from its issue price of 574 rupees per share.

(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

(([email protected];))

Corrects bids received from institutional buyers to $25 billion from $2.5 billion in paragraph 5

By Vivek Kumar M

July 16 (Reuters) - India's SBI Funds Management drew bids worth 3 trillion Indian rupees ($31.14 billion), making the asset manager's $1.03 billion initial public offering (IPO) the country's fourth-most-subscribed issue.

The subscription numbers include $278.5 million raised from anchor investors, including BlackRock and sovereign wealth funds from Singapore, Abu Dhabi, and Norway.

The IPO, which closed on Thursday, marked a strong comeback for India's primary market after a subdued first half of the year. India is expected to see a busy pipeline of public offerings in the second half of the year, with mega listings from Reliance Jio and National Stock Exchange expected before the end of 2026.

SBI Funds Management, a joint venture between the country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) SBI.NS and Europe's biggest asset manager Amundi AMUN.PA, is India's largest asset manager, overseeing funds worth 12.5 trillion rupees ($131 billion) as of March 2026.

The demand for SBI Funds Management's shares was led by institutional investors, who bid for $25 billion worth of shares, 140 times the number of shares on offer for them, exchange data showed.

The portion set aside for retail investors and SBI's shareholders was subscribed 3.6 times and 9.5 times, respectively.

The stock is expected to begin trading on July 21.

SBI Funds' IPO stands behind public offerings of Reliance Power RPOL.NS, LG Electronics India LGEL.NS, and Bajaj Housing Finance BAJO.NS, in terms of quantum of bids received, data from PRIME Database showed.

The asset manager is well placed to capitalise on its market leadership, strong distribution network and robust profitability, analysts at Aditya Birla Money said in a note dated July 14.

So far this year, India has seen IPOs worth nearly $4 billion, sharply below last year's $21.8 billion. However, the activity is expected to pick up in the second half of 2026, with 251 companies planning to raise 4.93 trillion rupees ($51.7 billion) in the pipeline, as per PRIME Database.

"Heavy bidding (for SBI Funds IPO) signals that investors are willing to commit fresh capital to quality franchises, which can help revive sentiment for the upcoming (IPO) pipeline," said Dhiraj Relli, managing director and chief executive officer at HDFC Securities.

($1 = 96.3450 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

(([email protected];))

July 15 (Reuters) - SBI Funds Management's SBIA.NS $1.03 billion initial public offering (IPO) was fully subscribed on the second day of bidding on Wednesday, led by retail and non-institutional investors.

(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M; Editing by Rashmi Aich)

(([email protected];))

July 13 (Reuters) -

• INDIA'S SBI FUNDS MANAGEMENT: INVESTORS ALLOCATED SHARES WORTH 26.63 BILLION RUPEES IN IPO ANCHOR BOOK

• SBI FUNDS MANAGEMENT: INVESTORS ALLOCATED SHARES AT 574 RUPEES/SHARE IN IPO ANCHOR BOOK

• SBI FUNDS MANAGEMENT: GOVERNMENT OF SINGAPORE, ADIA, BLACKROCK FUNDS, LIC AMONG INVESTORS ALLOCATED SHARES IN IPO ANCHOR BOOK

Source text: https://tinyurl.com/4unpd64z

Further company coverage: AMUN.PA

(([email protected];))

Corrects to say 'listing' not 'IPO'.

July 9 (Reuters) - Amundi SA AMUN.PA:

• SAID ON WEDNESDAY THAT UP TO 10% OF SBI FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED'S OUTSTANDING SHARES WILL BE OFFERED IN IPO

• SBI TO OFFER UP TO 128.3 MLN SHARES IN SBIFM, AMUNDI TO SELL UP TO 75.4 MLN SHARES

• SBIFM IPO OPEN FOR SUBSCRIPTION FROM JULY 14 TO JULY 16

• TENTATIVE DATE OF LISTING SCHEDULED FOR JULY 21

Source text: ID:nNDLc2dLJK
Further company coverage: AMUN.PA, SBI.NS

(Gdansk Newsroom)

(([email protected]; +48 58 769 66 00;))

By Sethuraman N R

NEW DELHI, July 8 (Reuters) - Tariffs for battery storage in India are expected to rise, developers and lenders said at an industry event on Wednesday, as high input costs have made low-priced projects harder to sustain.

The South Asian nation is rapidly expanding battery storage to provide round-the-clock renewable power, with about 260 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of energy storage projects currently at various stages of development.

"Tariffs for standalone battery storage projects fell sharply over the last two years on expectations that battery cell costs would continue to decline," said Debamalya Sen, president of the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA).

"With costs now rising, the question is how many of those projects will survive," he said during an event organised by IESA in New Delhi.

END OF CHINA INCENTIVES, IRAN WAR PUSHING UP BATTERY COSTS

Installed battery storage capacity rose more than 11-fold to 8.7 GWh in the first half of 2026 from 0.78 GWh at the end of 2025 and is expected to reach 10 GWh by the end of 2026, according to IESA.

That is still far lower than the renewable generation capacity of about 283 GW, however.

The withdrawal of export incentives by China, the world's largest battery supplier, along with rising prices of lithium, copper and aluminium tied to the Iran war have pushed up battery costs.

India's top lender State Bank of India SBI.NS said some projects that secured funding have not progressed as battery prices rose and suppliers no longer honoured earlier price commitments.

"In 2025, we saw the lowest (tariff) quote at 148,000 rupees ($1,548.85) per megawatt per month. At current battery prices, that is not sustainable," said Asesh Chakrabarti, a State Bank of India deputy general manager, at a panel discussion.

Companies in India have been offering lower tariffs to win state government projects.

However, Mahindra Susten, the clean energy arm of the Mahindra Group, cautioned against a "race to the bottom" in tariffs.

"Tariffs ... have to be realistic to ensure projects can secure financing, are built on time and to the required quality standards, and remain viable throughout their useful life," said Mahindra Susten CEO Avinash Rao.

($1 = 95.5550 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Sethuraman NR; Editing by Nidhi Verma and Joe Bavier)

(([email protected]; (+91 9945291420); Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))

By Jayshree P Upadhyay and Vivek Kumar M

MUMBAI, July 7 (Reuters) - SBI Funds Management, India's largest asset manager, will draw investments from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Singapore's GIC as part of its $1.2 billion initial public offering, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

SBI Funds Management, a joint venture between the country's largest lender State Bank of India SBI.NS and Europe's largest asset manager Amundi AMUN.PA, manages assets worth 12.5 trillion Indian rupees ($131.1 billion) as of end-March 2026.

It is expected to be valued at around $12.3 billion, the sources said, with SBI and Amundi selling a collective 10% of their shares in the joint venture, as part of the issue.

The IPO, likely to open next week, will kick off a busy pipeline of public offerings for India in the second half of the year, with Reliance Jio and National Stock Exchange mega listings expected before the end of 2026.

SBI Funds Management, GIC, Amundi and ADIA declined to comment. SBI did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

According to capital market data provider PRIME Database, 251 companies are planning to raise 4.93 trillion rupees ($51.7 billion) and waiting to come to market.

SBI Funds Management's IPO is drawing strong demand from large domestic institutional investors along with top foreign investors from Singapore and the Middle East, the sources said.

"The offering has commitments worth nearly five times of the amount reserved for institutional investors," one of the two sources said.

Despite the strong institutional demand, the fund house plans to keep 50% of the offer reserved for individual investors, the source said.

IPO PIPELINE REBUILDS

SBI Funds Management's public offer will be India's largest IPO since early 2026 after the Iran war led to a rise in oil prices, hurting investment sentiment toward the South Asian economy, heavily dependent on imported fuel.

Other IPOs lined up this month include a $1.2 billion issue from Manipal Health Enterprises and a $471 million issue from Indo-MIM, two merchant banking sources, separate from those cited earlier, said.

IPOs of the National Stock Exchange of India(NSE) and Reliance Jio with an estimated size of $3.3 billion and $3.8 billion, respectively, are expected to open later in the year.

"While the big-name IPOs that are potentially lined up for this month have good traction, the kind of response they receive and listing will decide the fate of the other bigger issues in the pipeline," said Suraj Krishnaswamy, managing director and head of investment banking coverage at Axis Capital.

In 2025, Indian firms raised $21.8 billion from IPOs. So far in 2026, they have raised $3.8 billion.

A successful return of large IPOs will also depend on a revival of foreign investor interest in Indian equities. These investors have sold shares worth $29 billion in the secondary markets so far this year, although selling pressure has eased and investors are giving India a second look, Reuters reported last month.

"We remain optimistic about the $20 billion IPO fundraise this year despite a subdued first half. Although, a lot of heavy lifting ($8 billion to $9 billion) will be done by three to four large IPOs that are in the pipeline," said Bhavesh Shah, managing director and head of investment banking at Equirus.

($1 = 95.3300 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Jayshree P Upadhyay and Vivek Kumar M; Editing by Ira Dugal and Jacqueline Wong)

(([email protected]; 9920092491; Reuters Messaging: Twitter: @jaysh88))

By Nishit Navin

BENGALURU, June 30 (Reuters) - Indian fintech firm Cashfree Payments plans to deepen its cross-border business with offerings such as overseas investment and travel payments as it seeks to tap rising demand for international transactions, CEO Akash Sinha said on Monday.

Cashfree, backed by State Bank of India SBI.NS, the country's largest lender, currently facilitates cross-border e-commerce payments.

It plans to begin pilots this year for overseas investment, travel and business-to-business payment services, expanding beyond online shopping, Sinha told Reuters in an interview.

"Cross-border is an exciting space...the market is not a challenge. It's a growing market," Sinha said, attributing the opportunity to India's increasing integration with the global economy through trade agreements.

"It's more about how do we crack it. Can we build the right product? Can we make a compliant product? Those are the challenges."

Indian payment firms have stepped up their focus on cross-border services as outbound travel, overseas education, investments and global trade gather pace.

Unlike domestic payment processing, where intense competition has squeezed pricing, cross-border transactions typically offer better margins because they involve foreign exchange and additional regulatory compliance.

Sinha said Cashfree aims to build payment infrastructure that makes cross-border transactions smoother, cheaper and operationally hassle-free for consumers and businesses.

Cashfree, which has a cross-border payments aggregator licence from India's financial regulator, expects the business to contribute 25% of revenue within three to four years, up from 10% currently.

It reported revenue of nearly 10 billion rupees ($105.7 million) in financial year 2026.

The firm, founded in 2015, processes transactions worth $80 billion annually for more than 1 million businesses, according to its website.

($1 = 94.6050 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Nishit Navin; Editing by Shreya Biswas)

(([email protected];))

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

By Shritama Bose

MUMBAI, June 29 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The world's top venue for trading in equity options by volume is treading carefully with its own listing plans. India's National Stock Exchange may seek a $52 billion market capitalisation in its Mumbai initial public offering. After a decade of delays to its debut, accepting a valuation discount to rival BSE BSEL.NS, formerly Bombay Stock Exchange, is a prudent hedge against regulators tightening rules to curb retail losses and their push to loosen the bourse's dominance.

Founded in 1992, NSE executes equity options contracts worth 142 trillion rupees ($1.5 trillion) in turnover annually, thanks to the rapid uptake of trading by retail investors following the Covid pandemic. NSE controls three-fourths of that lucrative trade. A listing will also yield a windfall for its long-time backers like Temasek and State Bank of India SBI.NS.

They and CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan, who took the role in 2022 after 10 years leading BSE, all appear determined to ensure a deal is done. Assume NSE's earnings of 103 billion rupees increase 34% for the year to the end of March - the same pace of earnings growth Visible Alpha estimates for BSE - and the $52 billion market capitalisation works out to 36 times earnings, compared to BSE's 49 times multiple.

Both exchanges are exposed to a potential plunge in trading volumes, with each generating roughly 60% of its top line from derivatives. The official crackdown, which last year temporarily banned high frequency trader Jane Street, also saw authorities increase minimum contract sizes, implement a ban on lending to high-frequency traders and impose higher taxes on derivatives transactions. If retail investors' chunky losses continue, more restrictions could follow.

NSE's sheer outsize influence is seen as a problem too. Its market share in options trading has tumbled to 75% from 97% two years ago, when the regulator began tightening control over the number and frequency of contracts the exchanges can offer. As a result, NSE's bottom line fell 16% in the most recent financial year even as BSE's grew 88%. Another reason for Chauhan to accept a discount is simply that BSE's scarcity premium will disappear. All that makes selling cheap an imperative more than an option.

Follow Shritama Bose on LinkedIn and X.

CONTEXT NEWS

India's National Stock Exchange will sell up to 149 million shares, 6% of its total outstanding, in a Mumbai initial public offering, the bourse said in a draft prospectus filed on June 17.

State Bank of India, a Morgan Stanley affiliate, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Temasek are among existing shareholders who will offer shares in the issue.

A record 20 bookrunning lead managers are advising the issue, led by Kotak Mahindra and JM Financial.

(Editing by Una Galani; Production by Aditya Srivastav)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on BOSE/[email protected]))

By Dharamraj Dhutia and Khushi Malhotra

MUMBAI, June 25 (Reuters) - Three Indian development finance institutions are planning to raise at least $1.5 billion through foreign-currency bank loans under the central bank's discounted overseas borrowing facility, three people familiar with the plans said.

The institutions are favouring loans over bonds because none has issued dollar debt before and the process is simpler, the sources added.

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) are each seeking to raise at least $500 million through foreign-currency loans, with NaBFID the furthest along after initiating talks with lenders, an executive confirmed.

"We expect to raise up to $2 billion via ECBs in this financial year. At present, we are planning to raise $500 million through the ECB route, and we have already started our activity and are exploring in the market," NaBFID managing director Rajkiran Rai told Reuters.

"With the RBI window opening, ECBs work out much cheaper. For the loan, the landed cost could be in the range of 6.5%-7.0%, NaBFID's Rai added.

The institution had also raised $125 million via a smaller dollar loan tranche in March, the sources added.

The sources declined to be identified as they are not authorised to speak to the media. NABARD and SIDBI did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

NABARD and SIDBI, which have not yet tapped foreign funding, have initiated preliminary talks and could approach the market over the next 30 to 40 days, according to all the sources.

"There is a lengthy procedure involved in a debut dollar bond sale, and it is time-consuming. If an institution is not going to be a regular issuer like EXIM Bank, it makes little sense to choose bonds over loans," one of the sources said.

Based on the credit ratings, dollar loans may be just marginally expensive than bonds for now.

The Reserve Bank of India earlier this month allowed banks and state-run companies raising funds overseas to access a subsidised hedging facility, lowering the cost of managing currency risk as part of a broader effort to attract dollar inflows and support the rupee.

Since then, HDFC Bank HDBK.NS, Axis Bank AXBK.NS and Power Finance Corp PWFC.NS have raised a combined $1.85 billion through dollar bonds, while Bank of Baroda BOB.NS and State Bank of India SBI.NS are preparing for similar issues.

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia and Khushi Malhotra; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)

(([email protected];))

State Bank of India's central board on Thursday approved raising up to ₹60,000 crore through debt instruments in the current financial year. The instruments include long-term bonds, Basel III-compliant Additional Tier 1 bonds, and Tier 2 bonds. The funds may be raised via public offer or private placement in Indian rupees or other convertible currencies from domestic and overseas investors. The plan is subject to government approval where required. The board meeting, which began at 10 am, concluded the agenda by 1:15 pm. The approval follows a prior intimation of the board meeting on June 15.

Powered by Tijori

Adds Temasek declined to comment in paragraph 15

By Jayshree P Upadhyay

MUMBAI, June 18 (Reuters) - Investors from Indian state-owned lenders to Singapore's sovereign wealth fund and Canada's national pension manager are set to reap a $2.6 billion windfall as India's National Stock Exchange (NSE) moves ahead with a long-awaited listing.

NSE — the country's largest bourse and the world's most active derivatives exchange — filed draft papers for an initial public offering late on Wednesday, following years of regulatory delays.

The listing will be a pure offer-for-sale, with existing shareholders offering to sell about 6% of the exchange's equity and no fresh equity raised.

NSE has more than 200,000 investors currently, and its shares trade at close to 2,000 rupees ($21.18) in the unlisted market, according to trading platforms. That suggests a valuation of some $57 billion, setting the bourse up to become the world's fifth most valuable after London Stock Exchange Group.

The exchange may offer shares at a 5% to 10% discount to private market valuations, said three sources, including merchant bankers. The valuation under discussion is around 1,900 rupees per share, they added, declining to be identified as they are not authorised to speak to the media.

"At this valuation NSE would attract incoming investors while not short-changing existing ones," one source said.

A final decision on pricing will be taken closer to listing, following investor roadshows.

At 1,900 rupees per share, the IPO would be worth $3.3 billion, making it one of India's two largest public offerings alongside Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio, which is likely to list this year in an IPO worth some $4 billion.

NSE said it could not comment beyond that it has filed an IPO prospectus when asked by Reuters about the valuation.

WINDFALL GAINS

The top 10 investors offering shares are set for a windfall worth some $2.6 billion, based on acquisition prices disclosed in the draft prospectus.

State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, will lock in gains of about 47 billion rupees ($497.67 million), while MS Strategic (Mauritius), a Morgan Stanley fund, will make about 29.34 billion rupees, according to Reuters calculations based on prospectus disclosures and valuation estimates.

Singapore's Temasek stands to make 20.67 billion rupees via its Aranda Investment arm, and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board will gain 18.71 billion rupees.

State Bank of India and Morgan Stanley did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment. CPPIB and Temasek declined to comment.

Anubhav Dayal, founder of Hong Kong-headquartered Soach Global Corporation, said its flagship fund first bought into NSE in early 2016 and is now selling 20% of its holding to provide liquidity to investors.

"It has proven to be a great investment. We saw the potential in NSE to serve India's masses," Dayal said, adding that the firm continues to hold NSE as a key investment. "NSE will continue to play an important role in India's economic activity."

GROWTH PROSPECTS AND REGULATORY RISKS

The exchange is likely to begin IPO roadshows over the next two months, the sources said, adding that both domestic mutual funds and global funds have shown early interest in anchoring the issue.

The exchange’s revenue has more than doubled between April 2019 and April 2026 to about 187 billion rupees, driven by strong growth in options trading. However, growth has slowed over the past year after a series of regulatory curbs on derivatives.

The exchange, detailing regulatory risks in its filing, said revenue could continue to be impacted by government and regulatory measures aimed at tempering derivatives activity.

In its IPO papers, NSE said growth will hinge on continued expansion in first-time investors, rising trading activity, innovation in derivatives products and a push into commodities.

Ravi Varanasi, a former group president at NSE who now runs a consultancy advising Indian exchanges, said NSE's near-total grip on the cash market gives it a strong long-term growth opportunity.

"As India’s market capitalisation deepens, cash trading volumes are expected to rise steadily," he said.

($1 = 94.5250 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Jayshree P Upadhyay; Additional reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Ira Dugal and Kevin Buckland)

(([email protected]; 9920092491; Reuters Messaging: Twitter: @jaysh88))