mumbai, June 23 -- State Bank of India (SBI) has invited pitches from investment banks to help it raise Rs.25,000 crore through a qualified institutional placement (QIP), two people aware of the matter said. "The investment banks will make their presentations this week," one of the persons cited above said. The board of India's largest bank had approved the fund-raising on 3 May, its second QIP since FY18 when it raised Rs.18,000 crore. A QIP is a quicker way than rights issue or follow-on offer for a listed company to raise capital by selling shares or convertible securities to institutional buyers. On Friday, SBI shares closed 1.29% higher at Rs.795.25, in line with the benchmark Nifty index that closed at 25,112.40. SBI's market capitalisation stood at Rs.7.09 lakh crore, the highest among state-run companies. Queries emailed to SBI remained unanswered. On 20 May, SBI issued a request for proposals (RFP) to hire up to six merchant bankers and other intermediaries for the fundraising plan. The selected bankers will be designated book-running lead managers, along with SBI subsidiary SBI Capital Markets Ltd. After its QIP in FY18, there were reports that banks were advising SBI on a Rs.15,000-18,000 crore QIP in FY20; however, the lender did not eventually raise these funds. "This time around, the bank seems to be serious in its efforts to raise capital. Given the depth of the capital markets here, they want to take advantage of it and raise money. Rs.25,000 crore is huge, but I think there will be enough institutional demand for this," the second person cited above said. Apart from SBI, public sector banks including Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Central Bank of India, Punjab & Sind Bank, and Uco Bank are pursuing QIPs, Mint reported on 2 April. In 2024, QIP fundraising across sectors hit an all-time high, with 99 issues raising Rs.1,41,482 crore. However, SBI has said that it has no immediate need for growth capital, and with a capital adequacy ratio of 14.2%, it has enough firepower to lend Rs.8 trillion. Chairman CS Setty told analysts on 3 May that every year, the bank takes an enabling resolution to balance "growth requirements and also the need for augmenting the CET 1 (common equity tier one) capital". "So, we do not need immediately in terms of the CRAR (capital adequacy ratio) requirement for credit growth. But we still feel that if there is an opportunity to raise equity capital, we will definitely access the market," said Setty, adding that the timing was uncertain as it wants the "right value". "While we cannot time the market absolutely, we will look for an opportune moment and we always, in the beginning of the year, take an enabling resolution so that we have ample time to plan our equity raising if needed." SBI's capital adequacy ratio stood at 14.25% as on 31 March, down three basis points (bps) from the same period last year, but was 122 bps higher than end-December....