Yes Bank to raise $1 billion via QIP in next 7 months

New Delhi: Private sector lender Yes Bank plans to raise USD 1 billion (about Rs 6,885 crore) through QIP in the next 7 months for which it has started engagement with large investors across geographies.

"The QIP process should be over in the next 6-7 months and we are actively meeting large investors across geographies," Yes Bank MD Rana Kapoor told PTI.

The QIP would be fairly diversified which would include even domestic investors, he said.

The bank is getting good response from the investors on the backdrop of robust first quarter, he said, adding this momentum will be sustained going forward.

Yes Bank reported a 32.8 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 731.8 crore during the first quarter ended June 30, as compared to Rs 551.20 crore in the year-ago period.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had approved Yes Bank's proposal in May this year to increase foreign investment limit to 74 per cent, entailing FDI inflows of USD 1 billion.

The bank got the approval to raise the limit without any sub-limits for investment by way of issue of non-equity shares and/or other permissible instruments to eligible non-resident investors.

The mode of instruments includes qualified institutions placement (QIP) of equity shares and/or issue of ADRs/GDRs and/or QFIs/FPIs under the portfolio investment scheme (PIS) by acquisition of permissible securities on stock exchange.

The bank claimed that it has become the first bank in India to receive such an approval for a fully fungible composite foreign investment limit of 74 per cent.

The hike in overseas shareholding was notified by the Cabinet in 2015 in order to remove sub-ceilings for multiple investor categories of FII, FDI and FPI.

Meanwhile, Yes Bank's weightage in the MSCI Global Standard Indexes has been increased to 1.7 per cent from 0.46 per cent effective August 31, as per MSCI's quarterly index review.

This increase has come on the back of RBI notifying increase in Yes Bank's Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) or Registered Foreign Portfolio Investors (RFPIs) limit to 74 per cent on June 10.