Indian banks need $65b capital by March 2019

That is if they want to meet Basel III requirements.

Citing Fitch Ratings, a Reuters report said Indian banks will need additional capital of $65 billion to meet all of global Basel III banking rules by March 2019, with state-run lenders accounting for 95 percent of the requirements.

That is far above the $11 billion in capital infusions into state-run lenders the government has budgeted through March 2019, with $3 billion due to be injected in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 fiscal years.

Fitch’s latest estimate is lower than its previous call of $90 billion as weaker-than-expected loan growth reduced capital requirements, but the credit rating agency continued to warn that Indian lenders “have limited options to raise the capital they still require”.

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