ICICI Bank today sold its entire 6.5% stake in Kerala-based private sctor bank, South Indian Bank (SIB), for Rs 30.3 crore.ICICI Bank's shareholding in SIB had fallen to 6.5% from 11.14% per cent as on December 31, 2005 following a rights issue in January.ICICI Bank has been paring its stakes in SIB and another Kerala-based Federal Bank as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines does not allow a bank to hold more than 5% stake in another bank. These stakes were acquired before the guidelines came into force.ICICI Bank, last week, sold 3% stake in Federal Bank for Rs 48.10 crore to International Finance Corporation (IFC), bringing down its stake to 6.2%.Analysts said more than the urgency to comply with the RBI guidelines, liquidity crunch has compelled ICICI Bank to sell its stakes in the two banks. The sale will also boost the bank's earnings in the fourth quarter ending March 31, 2006.SIB has announced plans to expand its reach to 450 branches by the end of this month from 435 branches. SBI chairman V A Joseph said the expansion would enable the bank to improve its geographical reach to 19 states by March 2006 from the current coverage of 17 states.
