India Mulls 49% Foreign Limit in State Banks to Fund Growth

India is considering allowing foreigners to own stakes as large as 49% in state-run banks as policymakers seek to fund growth without fully giving up control.

“We need credit-to-GDP ratio to increase to 150% from 56% currently,” Federal Banking Secretary M. Nagaraju told reporters on Monday. “We need to see if we should have additional capital or deploy existing capital more effectively or whether we should take a look at capital adequacy ratio. All of this require a calibrated approach.”