SBI Cards IPO to hit the market this quarter: SBI Chairman

Update on the Indian Equity Market:

On Tuesday, NIFTY ended positive at 11,979 (+2.3%). The top gainers in NIFTY were TITAN (+7.3%), Infratel (+5.7%) and IOC (+5.6%). ZEE (-5.3%), Bajaj Auto (-3.8%) and Yes Bank (-2.8%) were the top NIFTY losers. All the sectors were in the green. The top sectoral gainers were Metal (+3.3%), Financial Service (+2.9%) and Realty (+2.8%).

Excerpts from an interview with Mr Rajnish Kumar, Chairman, State Bank of India (SBI) that was published in Economic Times on 03^rd February 2020:

• SBI believed that no one needed an insurance cover as far as deposits in SBI are concerned. But as far as the system is concerned, after the problems with the cooperative bank which happened in Mumbai, there was a demand that the limit for insurance cover which was set some 27 years ago needs to be revised. This move was much needed and will create more confidence in the minds of the people about banks.
• AGR Telecom problems: According to him, the matter is sub judice and will be waiting for the Supreme Court decision. The hearing is on 4th February. He thinks and believes that the matter will ultimately be sorted out to the satisfaction of both the parties – the government and the telecom operators. He had a general discussion with a lot of people in the telecom sector where they hinted that they will have at least three to four large telecom operators and the country cannot be served with a lesser number of telecom operators. This has given Mr Kumar  confidence and hope that this matter will get sorted out.
• Barring one HFC account, things are looking up at least on the corporate recovery front.  This HFC account was in trouble, and SBI was readying for it since September and had started providing for it. Mr Kumar had said in the past that from the recovery and resolution perspective, December and March quarters are likely to be very good for the banking system. SBI is expecting some good resolution and implementation of resolution plans in respect of a couple of large accounts.
• The loan growth for SBI was around 7% in this quarter coming from their international banking book. There is more demand for foreign currency borrowings from Indian corporates. The retail story is intact and SBI is growing very well. The only thing is the corporate sector demand revival. The loan pipeline is fairly good. As these loans get disbursed, FY21E growth numbers may turn out to be better than FY20. The utilization of limits definitely improved in the last two months and SBI may end up somewhere around 9% YoY growth.
• The loan processing fee has improved significantly on a QoQ basis for SBI. It indicates that during the December quarter, SBI has processed more proposals. The loan pipeline is of more than Rs 1 lakh crore and all of these loans will get disbursed eventually over the next six months and that is a good indicator from a recovery point of view.
• SBI Card valuation: According to him, the penetration of credit cards in India is very low and as the economy develops, there will be demand for credit and credit cards. At the same time, SBI card business is growing decently. SBI IPO is expected to happen in this quarter.
• He said that the move by the government to divest stake in IDBI Bank and list LIC are two measures that stand out in this year’s budget.

Consensus Estimate: (Source: market screener website)

The closing price of SBI was ₹ 306/- as on 4-February 2020. It traded at 1.2x/ 1.1x/ 1.0x the consensus book value of ₹ 249/ 280/ 317 for FY20E/ FY21E/ FY22E respectively.