SBI Mutual Fund IPO: Fund house to file DRHP by March, shares likely to list by September; key details to know

C S Setty, the chairman of India's largest lender, SBI, said on Friday that SBI Mutual Fund will be filing the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) for the initial public offering (IPO) by March and executing the listing of the asset management arm by September.

In December 2025, a PTI report had said that SBI Mutual Fund, the biggest fund house, had initiated the process for the appointment of merchant bankers and other service providers to facilitate an initial public offering (IPO).

The boards of the respective shareholders, like SBI and Amundi, and the board of SBI Funds Management Ltd (SBIFML) have approved a timeline of 12 months, SBI Chairman C S Setty told PTI in an interview.

"We are very seriously working on that, and in this timeline we should hit the market...we have started the process of identifying the merchant bankers and other service providers," Setty, who is also chairman of SBIFML, said.

SBIFML is a joint venture between the State Bank of India and Paris-based Amundi, with 61.98% and 36.40% stakes, respectively. The fund house managed assets of around ₹12 lakh crore as of September 2025.

Other key updates by SBI

SBI is in talks with Japanese lenders for a tie-up on the acquisition finance business, which the RBI recently opened for domestic lenders.

SBI has the ability to fund up to ₹94,000 crore to borrowers looking at acquisition finance, Setty told reporters on the sidelines of an IBA event in Mumbai.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) came out with the final guidelines on the acquisition finance on February 13, allowing banks to lend up to 75% of a deal and capping the overall exposure on that aspect at 20% of its core capital.

Setty said SBI has been working with foreign lenders on the acquisition finance side, pointing out that it was open to doing the business overseas, and added that opening up the possibilities domestically has led to conversations on similar tie-ups.

"We have been talking to Japanese banks mainly because they are active in that. But there is no preference for anyone," Setty said.

To start with, SBI will prefer to avoid complex acquisition finance transactions involving lots of instruments like mezzanine debt, etc., and stick to simple equity and debt finance.

Given the sensitivities and confidentiality involved, usually one or two lenders perform the underwriting of a transaction, and then the rest of the lenders join it, Setty said.

SBI will now be formulating the standard operating procedures on how to go about the newly allowed business and get it ratified by the board before going ahead, he said.