CatholicSyrian Bank Ltd. will revive its scrapped IPO to raise 4 billion Indian rupees ofcapital, Bloomberg News reported Sept. 27, citing the bank's chairman, S.Santhanakrishnan.

The bank needs to raise 10 billion rupees in the next threeyears, of which 4 billion rupees will be raised via an IPO in 2017,Santhanakrishnan said. The bank previously canceled a proposed 4 billion rupeeIPO in 2015.

The lender is partial to multiple investors acquiring stakesrather than one investor taking a large stake, Santhanakrishnan said. Thechairman discounted a potential acquisition of the bank, saying that the boardwants to maintain the lender's identity.

Catholic Syrian Bank is reviving the share sale due to itsnarrowing bad debt and heightened demand for equities. The bank's gross badloans ratio declined to 5.79% at June 30 from 6.14% in the prior-year period.

The bank is also in talks to raise money from four investorsincluding Fairfax FinancialHoldings Ltd., AsianDevelopment Bank and two investors from the Middle East,Santhanakrishnan said.

Meanwhile, the lender is in the process of raising 1.2billion rupees from investors including HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co. Ltd., and EdelweissTokio Life Insurance Co. Ltd.

As of Sept. 27, US$1was equivalent to 66.54 Indian rupees.