That the entire Rs 500 crore bond float was subscribed to in a single working day did not surprise the bank's officials who were expecting an unusually early closure to the issue. A quick subscription mainly by provident fund, mutual funds, banks and financial institutions has led to the bank's capital adequacy ratio shooting up from 9.54 per cent as on September 30, 1998 to 11 per cent at present. Officials claim that the bank is offering similar rates to other bond issues in the market but for longer periods. The bond issue was split into two maturity periods with a 63-month instruments offering a coupon rate of 13.85 per cent annualised and the 87-month instrument at a coupon rate of 14.20 per cent. Several other banks have optedfor privately placed bond issues to augment their tier II capital.