The largest public sector bank of the country, State Bank of India is planning to inject more funds in its insurance arm, SBI Life. The public sector lender had earlier decided to raise funds through an initial public offering (IPO) but postponed the offer due to financial market turmoil, following the global slowdown. Some impending regulatory changes in the country also helped to delay the IPO. Meanwhile, the Central Government has already presented Insurance Bill in the Parliament to pave a way for increasing the FDI limit in insurance sector from 26 per cent to 49 per cent.

The managing director and chief executive officer of the company, Uday Sankar Roy said, "We are progressing on the IPO. But, in the current market scenario, it is difficult to say at this point of time when it will hit the market."

The bank holds a majority 76% stake in SBI Life Insurance while remaining 24 per cent stakes remains with BNP Paribas Assurance. SBI life was earlier scheduled to hit the market by the end of financial year 2009.