Fitch: New Equity and Reforms Help Indian Banks' Basel III Goals

Equity-raising by Indian banks in the last couple of months is the first step in the sector's transition towards Basel III requirements, Fitch Ratings says. As the sector enters the phase of transitioning into the Basel III-based capital regime (April 2013- March 2018), the banks need stronger access to the capital market to support growth and to meet the higher capital requirements being phased in. New investor-friendly reforms could support this if these trends continue.

The fresh capital raised by private banks should fund credit growth and give the banks an early start in meeting the Basel III requirements. IndusInd Bank issued INR20bn in December 2012, improving its Tier 1 ratio to 14.85% at end-2012 (including nine months of profit). Axis Bank boosted its equity base by 20% through an INR55bn capital placement in January 2013.

The banking system needs a strategy to achieve Basel III compliance - despite the transitional requirements being largely back-loaded, with over three-quarters of the additional regulatory core capital arising in 2016-2018. The Reserve Bank of India estimated additional capital requirements for private banks to be INR200bn-250bn (USD3.6bn-4.6bn). For the state banks, the estimate of the government's share is INR880bn-910bn (USD16bn), assuming public ownership is maintained at current levels, of which INR125bn (USD2.3bn) was injected into 10 public sector banks in January. The capital position for state-owned banks is underpinned by the government's commitment to maintain a minimum 8% Tier 1 ratio.

The government now has an additional source of funding for the banks, as amendments made in January 2013 allow the National Investment Fund to use proceeds from disinvestments. For the year-ending March 2013, INR300bn (USD5.5bn) of divestments are targeted. But the government banks still need to access the capital markets to source their remaining Basel III needs (INR520bn-590bn (USD9.6bn-10.8bn), according to the RBI) from private investors, and would need to start preparations for this.

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