State Bank of India’s (SBI) cards business will soon be tapping the primary market with an initial public offering (IPO). Dinesh Kumar Khara, managing director and group executive — associates and subsidiaries at SBI, shared his views on the developments in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

On the valuation, he said: “We have filed the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) and after that I am under certain obligations not to indicate any kind of a valuation. We will have to wait and watch because much of it will depend upon how the market is at the material point of time, so after the DRHP seen by the potential investors and we will carry out the road show perhaps we will have some sense. But it is too early for us to comment anything on the valuation.”

Revenue and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (Ebitda) for the cards business has been quite healthy, he added.

“We are a long-term player as far as SBI Cards is concerned and we will stay on that is for sure and as far as the current offer for sale is concerned, we are offloading 4 percent and Carlyle

When asked if SBI will be considering chipping off its stake a little more, he replied: “As of now, as of now we don't have any such plan because it is business which is very complementary too SBI's primary activity so as of now we have no such plan further for the further offloading.”

On monetizing SBI’s general insurance business, Khara said: “As far as this financial year is concerned, we don't have anything else planned. Maybe in the coming financial year as I was indicating that all these decisions also are a function of the market so we will have to see how the market is. And hopefully by that time will take stock of the situation and then we will take a call.”

On growth prospects of the cards business, he said: “Eventually when the entities are growing, at some stage we will have to introduce them to the market. So that there should have any constraints for their growth going forward. So, when an entity grow beyond a particular size, it is always advisable that they should be in a position to tap the public markets.”

On capital raising plans, Khara said: “Actually we are quite comfortable we have raised 81