DCB Bank promoters would need about 3-4 years to reduce their stake to 10 per cent, said its MD & CEO Murali Natrajan.
DCB sought RBI’s guidance on reducing the promoter shareholding.
According to RBI norm, the promoters of private sector banks are required to bring down stake to 10 per cent.
The promoter and promoter group — the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) and Platinum Jubilee Investments — currently hold 16.4 per cent stake in DCB.
“It doesn’t seem likely that we will be able to reduce the stake (to 10 per cent) before 3-4 years,” Natrajan told BusinessLine . Natrajan, who took charge of the bank in May 2009, when the promoter stake was around 26 per cent, has managed to raise capital and get the promoter shareholding down.
“We got our first roadmap to reduce promoter stake in 2009 just after I joined. The roadmap (by RBI) said we should reach 10 per cent by March 2014. But we reached 18.5 per cent by March. Since then we have been in correspondence with RBI on this,” Natrajan said.
On October 10, the bank raised ₹250 crore from institutions. This reduced the promoters’ stake in the bank to 16.4 per cent from 18.42 per cent.
“Now, when we already have capital, the market will not give us more. So, we will wait for the RBI to come back on the outlook and guide us,” Natrajan said.