Prospect

Punjab & Sind Bank aims to cross total business milestone of Rs 3 lakh crore in FY27

State-owned lender Punjab & Sind Bank intends to achieve a milestone total business of Rs 3 lakh crore by the end of the ongoing financial year, helped by loan growth. “We have achieved total business of Rs 2.63 lakh crore in FY26, registering a growth of 15 per cent and hope to cross Rs 3 lakh crore during the current financial year,” Punjab & Sind Bank MD and CEO Swarup Kumar Saha told the media.

The bank is expecting a credit growth of 16-18 per cent and deposit expansion of 13-14 per cent in the ongoing financial year, he said. With this kind of credit and deposit growth, he said, the bank can surpass Rs 3 lakh crore business mix, which is the total of advances and deposits. To meet the credit expansion, the bank is also planning to raise resources from both equity and debt.

Punjab & Sind Bank is eying to mobilise up to Rs 3,000 crore via share sale on a private placement basis in a bid to meet the minimum public shareholding (MPS) norms of market regulator Sebi. As per Sebi norms, listed entities are required to have at least 25 per cent public shareholding. Currently, the Government of India holds a 93.85 per cent stake in Punjab & Sind Bank.

“We have got board approval for raising up to Rs 3,000 crore from Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) or other means (in FY27). We are in discussion with merchant bankers. We will soon start roadshows to engage with investors for proposed stake dilution,” Saha said.

However, he said, timing and exact quantum would depend on market conditions, which are not very conducive at present. Besides, he said, the board has also approved Rs 3,000 crore infrastructure bonds and Rs 2,000 crore from Tier I and Tier II bonds to fund credit growth.  The bank had done a maiden issuance of infrastructure bonds in December 2024. Saha said the bank has fully deployed the funds raised from its first infra bonds. Domestic investors have shown a lot of interest in such bond issuance by banks, and many lenders have exercised this option for raising resources in the recent past. The advantage of infrastructure bonds is that they are exempt from regulatory reserve requirements such as the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR).

So, infrastructure bond proceeds can be fully deployed for lending activities.

Banks have been preferring infrastructure bonds over AT-1 and Tier-2 bonds, as they are better priced.

New building norms to ease infra constraints, improve access to healthcare: NATHEALTH

Healthcare industry body NATHEALTH on Sunday said the Government’s move to ease height restrictions for hospitals subject to enhanced fire safety provisions is expected to address structural constraints, including limited bed capacity, and underutilisation of existing infrastructure, particularly in urban centres.

Welcoming the Government’s notification of the National Building Construction Standards (NBCS) 2026, NATHEALTH said it eases long-standing height restrictions for hospitals and permits Intensive Care Units (ICUs) beyond 45 metres, subject to enhanced fire safety provisions.

“The move is expected to address structural constraints such as high land costs, limited bed capacity, and underutilisation of existing infrastructure, particularly in urban centres,” NATHEALTH said in a statement.

The new NBCS 2026 rules mark a significant and timely step towards enabling future-ready healthcare infrastructure in India, NATHEALTH President Sangita Reddy said.