India Raised More Than $900 Million Selling Axis Bank Stake, Source Says By Kenan Machado and Mukesh Jagota MUMBAI--The Indian government has raised $905.7 million by selling a 9% stake in Axis Bank Ltd., one of the countrys largest banks, a person familiar with the deal said Friday. The shares in Axis Bank were sold Friday for between 1,290 rupees ($21) and 1,357 rupees ($22) apiece, the person said. Before the sale, the government owned around 21% of Axis Bank, Indias third-largest privately run bank by assets, after ICICI Bank Ltd. and HDFC Bank Ltd. The stake sale is expected to help shrink the governments fiscal deficit. India has forecast that the deficit wont exceed 4.6% of gross domestic product for the fiscal year ending March 31. The government earlier had planned to raise 400 billion rupees ($6.5 billion) by selling stakes in several state-run companies, but has subsequently lowered its expectations.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 10:17:52 +0000