State Bank of India mulls $4.5bn rights issue next year

The delay is caused by the failure of approval from the federal government, which owns about 59 percent of the bank.

State Bank of India, India's top lender, will launch its 200 billion rupee ($4.5 billion) rights equity issue after the first quarter of the fiscal year beginning in April, its chairman said on Sunday.

"For this financial year, it will be too late, so it will happen next year. I don't think it will be in the first quarter," O.P. Bhatt, State Bank of India chairman, told reporters on the sidelines of an industry conference in Mumbai.

A failure to secure approvals from the federal government, which owns about 59 percent of the bank, delayed the launch of the issue, local media reported last month, according to a report in Reuters.

The issue, announced last February, will raise half the amount needed to sustain the bank's growth over the next five years.