At a time when both spreads and US treasury yields are contracting, the country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) indicated it received approval to raise up to $2.5 billion via issue of foreign currency bonds in fiscal 2020.

It is not yet clear as to what time the bank will hit the market with its issue. However, what is noteworthy is the fact that fund-raising costs have come down significantly in the dollar bond market.

Air India chairman Ashwani Lohani is likely to meet State Bank chairman Rajnish Kumar Friday over the national carrier’s plans to lease five wide-body Boeing planes from the now grounded Jet Airways.

Weighed down by a mountain of debt and falling revenue, Jet Airways announced suspension of its entire operations from Wednesday night and owns 16 wide-body planes, 10 B777-300ERs and six Airbus A330s.

Funding for debt-laden Jet Airways is likely to come through, said a government official on Tuesday amid reports that the airline is likely to shut down temporarily.

Jet lenders, led by State Bank of India (SBI), met financial services secretary Rajeev Kumar as the airline's share price fell by as much as 19%, Live Mint website reported.

Jet Airways pilots body, the National Aviator's Guild, Monday appealed the State Bank of India (SBI) to release Rs 1,500 crore, which was proposed to be infused in the ailing carrier as part of a debt-restructuring plan last month.

The airline is operating just 6-7 planes, with almost its entire fleet being grounded due to non-payment of rentals to lessors amid severe paucity of cash.

State Bank of India (SBI) Monday invited bids for stake sale in ailing Jet Airways.

SBI, which is the lead lender of a consortium of domestic lenders that has extended loans to Jet Airways, is looking for "change in control and management" of the carrier, according to a public notice.

The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday provided a huge relief to thermal power projects worth Rs 2 trillion that were facing the threat of insolvency. The apex court held a 12 February 2018 circular of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which ordered banks to classify companies as 'stressed' if they default on loans even for a day, to be 'ultra vires'. The SC said that the circular that applied to numerous defaulting assets in power, sugar, shipping and companies in other sectors to be beyond the RBI's legal powers.

A detailed copy of the judgement is awaited.

Shares of public sector banks (PSB) continued to trade higher with the Nifty PSU Bank index up nearly 3 per cent on hopes of margin expansion.

Andhra Bank, United Bank of India, Corporation Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Uco Bank, Bank of Maharashtra and Syndicate Bank were up more than 5 per cent each while Punjab National Bank (PNB), Bank of Baroda (BOB), Union Bank of India, Bank of India and Indian Bank were up in the range of 2 to 3 per cent on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

The Essar Steel acquisition battle has shifted to the Supreme Court with the State Bank of India moving the highest court against the NCLAT (National Company Law Appellate Tribunal) suggestion to give more cash to operational creditors. In the voting conducted by Essar Steel’s lenders, almost 70 per cent of lenders agreed to give Rs 1,000 crore more to operational creditors as per a NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) and NCLAT suggestion.

The SBI action came just days before the NCLAT was to hear the outcome of the CoC meeting on April 9.

Bank of Baroda (BoB) Monday became the second largest state-owned lender after merging Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank into itself as part of the first three-way amalgamation.

The consolidated entity started its operation with a business mix of over Rs 15 lakh crore of balance sheet, with deposits and advances of Rs 8.75 lakh crore and Rs 6.25 lakh crore, respectively.

After jumping to the third spot in the domestic mutual fund industry in a short span of time, SBI Mutual Fund is set to improve its position further in the highly competitive sector. Besides benefiting from being an arm of the country’s largest bank, the fund house is offering solutions keeping the overall investment goals of its clients.

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