In March 2008, the bank raised $4.17bn through a rights issue that was fully subscribed despite difficult and volatile market conditions. The bank, at end-March 2008, achieved a strong 17.93% return on equity, well ahead of previous years.
In new developments, a state-of-the-art dealing room with online connectivity to all foreign exchange-intensive branches was inaugurated and the bank has introduced several innovative structured products and services that have resulted in cross-asset arbitrage profits of $600m as of March 2008. The bank has also entered into an alliance with India Post to extend banking services to the remotest areas of the country through Smart Card technology.
SBI is entering or recently entered several new businesses, such as pension funds, mobile banking, general insurance, financial planning and advisory services, custodial services, private equity and a merchant acquiring business, which are still in the nascent stage and will substantially boost the bank’s fee income in the coming years. Meanwhile, the bank was the first to cross the barrier of 10,000 branches, with 965 new branches in 2007/08.
