State-owned Indian Bank today said that it will raise Rs 500 crore through bonds during the first week of next month to fund business growth.
"We have raised Rs 500 crore, and another Rs 500 crore would be raised through Tier II bonds during the first week of July," Indian Bank Chairman and Managing Director T M Bhasin told PTI.
The fund raised would help the Chennai-based bank meet its credit growth target of 22 per cent for the current fiscal.
Asked to comment on the base rate, Bhasin said that the bank would hold a board meeting on June 29 to take a decision in this regard.
Base rate, the lowest rate that can be charged from a customer, is intended to bring about more transparency in lending operations of banks.
The base rate, to come into effect from July 1, will replace the existing Benchmark Prime Lending Rate (BPLR) -- which varies between 11 per cent and 13.5 per cent for public sector banks.
Meanwhile, the bank paid a dividend of Rs 177.53 crore to the government for 2009-10. The bank had declared a dividend of 65 per cent for 2009-10, compared to 50 per cent a year ago.
For 2009-10, Indian Bank reported a 24.87 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 1,544.99 crore against Rs 1,245.32 crore in the previous year.
Last year, the bank's total business crossed Rs 1,50,000 crore with total deposits increasing by 21.56 per cent to Rs 88,228 crore and gross advances surging by 20.89 per cent to Rs 62,658 crore.