Foreign banks and Indian banks have assured the State Bank of India to Mobilise $ five billion for SBI's five-year ''India Millennium Deposit (IMD)'' to be raised from Non-Resident Indians, SBI chairman G.G.Vaidya stated on Wednesday. Vaidya, who announced the launch of the scheme here, said that IMD would be eligible for deposits by NRIs and Overseas Corporate Bodies (OCB) and would be denominated in U.S dollars, pound, sterling and euro. The chairman informed that though the SBI is targeting to collect only $ two billion through its IMDs it has already received assurance for more than double that amount from foreign and Indian banks.

Vaidya said that the feedback from the middle east NRIs has been, particularly, encouraging. ''We will retain the amount in excess of $ two billion raised before the earliest closing date of October 31'', Vaidya said.

The NRIs in United States may not be eligible to subscribe to the deposits, he informed. ''Due to applicable regulatory matters in the United States, IMD may not be offered, sold, resold, pledged, transferred, assigned or delivered to or within the United States or to United States persons, including NRIs or OCBs located or resident within the United States,” he added.

While the U.S dollar denominated IMDs will carry an interest rate of 8.5 per cent, pound, sterling and euro denominated IMDs would have coupon rate of 7.85 per cent and 6.85 per cent respectively. Bureau Report