Private lender ICICI Bank has set a floor price of Rs 351.36 per share for its qualified institutional placement (QIP), which opened on Monday. The bank plans to raise up to Rs 15,000 crore to support business growth and create a buffer to absorb any shocks from economic disruption caused by the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

Shares of the lender closed at Rs 364.20, up 1.75 per cent on the benchmark BSE. Its board will meet again to decide the QIP issue price.

Last week, mortgage lender HDFC also set floor price for its QIP to raise as much as Rs 14,000 crore. Prior to that, Axis Bank hit the market to raise around Rs 10,000 crore. A slew of lenders have undertaken the exercise of raising funds to protect themselves from any adverse shocks from the Covid-19 pandemic.

ICICI Bank has already raised more than Rs 3,000 crore by divesting some part of it's stake in its insurance subsidiaries (both life and non-life). The rationale provided by the lender for the divestment was strengthening of the balance sheet in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

While there were fears that bad loans might shoot up once the moratorium on repayments expired, the RBI has now given a one-time restructuring window to banks, which is expected to soften the Covid-19 pandemic's impact on the banks' asset quality.

The bank's Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) stood at 16 per cent as on June 30, 2020 with Tier I at 14.72 per cent. The asset quality profile of the bank improved during the reporting quarter. The Gross Non-Performing Assets (GNPAs) fell to 5.46 per cent in Q1FY21 from 6.49 per cent in Q1FY20. The GNPAs were at 5.53 per cent at end of March 2020.