Ujjivan Small Finance bank to raise ₹600 crore in 3-6 months

Ujjivan Small Finance is looking to raise ₹600 crore of fresh capital from institutional investors for increasing their public shareholding to 25%

The board of directors has approved the issuance of equity shares up to ₹600 crore—that includes premium through Qualified Institutional Placement subject to the approval of the shareholders," the company told the BSE.

Speaking to Mint, Ittira Davis, managing director and chief executive officer of the SFB said that the capital raise will help the bank increase its public shareholding from the current 17% to 25%. This will precede the reverse merger of the holding company Ujjivan Financial Services with the bank.

Davis was appointed last month after his predecessor Nitin Chugh left the bank over differences with the founder over the running of the bank.

Davis said he has completed organizational changes with the bank and is looking to reorganize teams following his appointments as CEO. The bank is also on a hiring spree with the appointment of Sriram Srinivasan as the head of digital banking, Ramesh Murthy as chief financial officer, Sanjeev Barnwal as company secretary and compliance officer.

Davis also added that bank will start looking for his replacement as his term is only for a year.

Ujjivan SFB had reported a net loss of ₹33.8 crore in the quarter ended December. The bank reported a 5% jump in net interest income to ₹454 crore at the end of December from ₹432 crore during the same period last year.

Gross advances rose 21% year on year to ₹16,463 crore as on 31 December compared to ₹13,638 crore during the same period last year.

Gross NPAs as a percentage of total advances declined to 9.8% at end of December 2021 from 11.8% in the previous quarter. The bank is looking to bring down the NPA to 5% over a period of time, he added.

Provision coverage ratio stood at 84% as on December 2021.

Article originally published in Mint