MUMBAI: Bank of Baroda and Bank of India, the two largest public sector banks in terms of overseas branches, are aiming to raise over $6 billion in foreign capital through schemes where RBI undertakes to cover forex risk through a dollar swap.Bank of Baroda is targeting $4 billion to $5 billion through a combination of FCNR(B) deposits, medium-term notes in foreign currency, and overseas foreign currency bonds. “We have already raised over $700 million through FCNR(B) deposits and should cross $1 billion by the end of the month,” said Debadatta Chand, MD and CEO, Bank of Baroda.Bank of India MD and CEO Rajneesh Karnatak said that the bank has raised $200 million through deposits and aims to mobilise $1.2 billion by the time the scheme closes at end-Sept. He said that the bank would offer leverage up to nine times the initial deposits placed by the customer. “We will be doing this on our own as we have significant foreign operations”.Karnatak said that while the bank would offer returns as high as 6.5% on these international deposits to compete with other alternatives available to NRI, the funds would still be margin accretive as they would be 50 basis points to 60 basis points lower than the cost of bulk deposits.RBI said that banks have raised over $17 billion until this week through FCNR(B) deposits. Among other public sector banks, Punjab National Bank said that it could raise around $2.5 billion of FCNR(B) deposits, while Union Bank of India expects to mobilise up to $2.0 billion. Central Bank of India has set a $400 million target.
