BENGALURU, July 31 (Reuters) – Indian lender Jana Small Finance Bank JANA.BO has resubmitted its application for an initial public offering, two years after pulling its previous plan due to the pandemic and the last year it could remain private according to local market regulations.

The offer consists of fresh issue of shares worth up to 5.75 billion rupees ($70 million) and an offer for sale of up to 4.1 million shares, according to the draft herring prospectus.

Axis Capital, ICICI Securities and SBI Capital Markets are the bookrunning lead managers for the Bengaluru-based bank’s IPO.

The lender commenced operations as a small finance bank in March 2018. In April 2021, Jana filed for an IPO but had to delay its fundraising plan due to the pandemic.

The Reserve Bank of India mandates that all small finance banks have to list within five years of starting operations.

Microfinance loans continue to remain the lender’s mainstay business, accounting for around 44.6% of its loan portfolio, as of March 31. The balance comprises of secured advances such as loans to micro, small and medium enterprises, loans to non-banking finance companies and gold loans.

The lender held deposits worth 163.3 billion rupees, as of March 31.

The bank’s total gross non-performing assets (NPA) as of March 31 stood at 7.09 billion rupees, down from 7.57 billion rupees last year, with the NPA ratio at 3.9%, the highest among peers including AU Small Finance Bank (AUFI.NS), Equitas Small Finance Bank (EQUI.NS) and Ujjivan Small Finance Bank (UJJI.NS).

The bank’s gross NPA ratio stood at 6.7% as on March 31, 2021.

Jana’s credit cost for 2022-23 was at 4.8%, higher than 4.6% and 3.4% reported in 2021-22 and 2020-21, respectively.

($1 = 82.2225 Indian rupees)

Reporting by Varun Vyas in Bengaluru and Siddhi Nayak in Mumbai; Editing by Sonia Cheema

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