Five regional rural banks (RRBs) in the Northeast under the sponsorship of State Bank of India (SBI) are to soon be merged.

The five RRBs are Arunachal Pradesh Rural Bank, Meghalaya Rural Bank, Mizoram Rural Bank, Nagaland Rural Bank and Langpi Dehangi Rural Bank (based in Assam), said a source close to the development.

The country's largest lender, SBI on Tuesday said it has raised Rs 500 crore from issue of bonds on a private placement basis.

"The bank on March 21, 2016 issued 5,000 Basel III compliant, tier-ll bonds in the nature of debentures of face value of Rs 10,00,000 each at par with 10-year tenure, bearing 8.45 per cent per annum coupon payable annually and with a call option after 5 years aggregating Rs 500 crore on a private placement basis," State Bank of India said in a BSE filing.

Banking shares mainly public sector banks (PSB) were trading higher on the bourses in early morning trade after the government announced a steep cut in interest rates on small savings schemes.

State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB), IDBI Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Allahabad Bank, Bank of India and Bank of Baroda were up more than 1% each on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Global ratings agency Moody's today said that country’s largest lender the State Bank of India's (SBI) profitability metrics could face lingering pressure as it spends the next six-eight quarters for rebuilding its balance-sheet buffers.

In contrast, its private sector counterpart, ICICI Bank, whose operating profitability has improved significantly, allows it to absorb a higher level of credit costs.

MUMBAI: Top public sector lender State Bank of India on Monday released arrears worth Rs 1,465 crore to 7.75 lakh defence pensioners under One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme, as per the government rules.

The government had in November last year formally notified the OROP scheme for the more than 24 lakh defence ex-servicemen and 6 lakh war widows in the country.

Rating agency Moody’s said thin loss-absorbing buffers are a key weakness in State Bank of India’s credit profile, with a provision cover for bad loans of 65 per cent, much lower than similarly rated global peers and down from 69 per cent at end-March 2015.

SBI’s reported gross non-performing loans (NPLs) rose to 5.1 per cent of the total at end-December 2015 from 4.25 per cent in March, following the Reserve Bank of India’s asset quality review. And, is expected to be around six per cent for the year ending March 2016.

The biggest public sector lender State Bank Of India on Thursday denied any laxity on the part of the consortium of banks in seeking reliefs against the defunct Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. (KFAL), its promoters and holding-associated company. It also refuted certain media reports purportedly blaming the SBI, the leader of the consortium, for the crisis and termed these as based on “hearsay and conjecture”.

MUMBAI: In a bid to encourage women entrepreneurs and promote greater usage of banking services by women, the country's largest lender SBI has decided to set up one all-woman branch in every district. The bank has already opened 14 such branches - one in each regional hub. Speaking to TOI, SBI chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya said, "Supporting women to grow is an idea that is central to our philosophy of being the 'Banker to every Indian'. SBI has initiated steps to ensure that at least one all-women branch is there for each district.

The Karnataka High Court on Friday took up a petition by State Bank of India to arrest UB Group chairman Vijay Mallya, impound his passport and also direct him to disclose his personal and family’s assets, in India and globally. At the same time, it said, there is no impediment for the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) to hear a similar plea by the public sector bank, which is seeking legal remedy over unpaid loans by Mallya taken to run the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.The DRT reserved orders for March 7, its judgment on the first petition by SBI, which leads a consortium of banks, to direct Mallya and Diageo Plc to deposit the $ 75 mn (around Rs 500 crore) committed by the British liquor firm for a non-compete deal signed with Mallya. It would take up the other pleas for arrest and impounding of Mallya’s passport on a later date.

Banking shares mainly public sector undertakings (PSUs) have rallied by up to 13% on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in early morning trade after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed banks to beef up its capital adequacy by including certain items such as property value, foreign exchange for calculation of its Tier-I capital.

State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda (BOB), Bank of India (BOI), Indian Bank, Union Bank of India, Canara Bank and Punjab National Bank are among few rallied more than 6% on the NSE.

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