PATHANAMTHITTA: South Indian Bank Chairman V.A. Joseph said on Monday that the bank would come out with a Rs.150-crore public issue in January 2006, to raise its capital adequacy ratio to 13.5 per cent from the prevailing 9.89 per cent.

Dr. Joseph was addressing a press conference after attending the rededication ceremony of the SIB branch here.

He said the bank would submit to the Reserve Bank of India the application seeking clearance for the proposed public issue on Friday.

Dr. Joseph said the SIB had fixed a business target of Rs.25,000 crores during the financial year 2007-'08. The net worth of the bank would touch Rs.1,000 crores by then, he added.

He said the number of branches of the bank in the country would be increased to 500 and Automated Teller Machine facility would be extended to all the branches.

He said the new SIB would open 18 more branches, including Lucknow, Bhubaneshwar, Indore and Bhopal, during the current financial year.

Dr. Joseph said the SIB had fixed business target of Rs.16,000 crores for 2005-'06, an increase of Rs.200 crores over its previous year's business.

He said the SIB, which had a humble beginning with 44 shareholders in 1929, has plans to acquire smaller banks.

The SIB has already acquired 15 banks and has 435 branches, 60 extension counters, 30 lakh customers and 90,000 shareholders.

Dr. Joseph said 84 per cent of the SIB business was online. He said 22 of the 25 SIB branches in Pathanamthitta district had core banking facility.

The credit-deposit ratio of the bank in the district was 32.30, he added.

SIB assistant general manger C.J. Jose Mohan was also present.

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