India banks need US$65b for Basel III

Indian banks will need additional capital of US$65 billion (RM273.4 billion) to meet global Basel III banking rules by 2019, with state-run lenders accounting for 95 per cent of the requirements, said Fitch Ratings yesterday. That is far above the US$11 billion in capital infusions into state-run lenders the government has budgeted through March 2019. Fitch’s estimate is lower than its previous call of US$90 billion as weaker-than-expected loan growth reduced capital requirements.