The Lok Sabha today approved a bill that will allow the State Bank of India, SBI, to reduce government holding in the bank to 51 per cent from 55 per cent and raise funds from the capital markets. Piloting the amendment bill, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, however, said, the public sector character of the SBI will not be diluted. He said, while SBI can access capital market by issuing equity shares or bonds, there was no express provision under the Act to enable the bank to issue preference shares or bonus shares.The SBI (Amendment) Bill 2010, which also seeks to raise the authorised capital of the bank from 1,000 crore to 5,000 crore rupees, was approved by the House despite Opposition from the Left Parties. The SBI Act, 1955, was amended in 1993 last to enable it to access capital market. Our correspondent reports, the government currently holds 59.41 per cent in SBI and the amendment will provide headroom to the bank to raise funds from the capital market through issue of fresh equity, preference shares and also reward existing shareholders through bonus shares.The bill will also empower the Central government to increase or reduce the authorised capital in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India. It will help the SBI in complying with the Basel Capital Accord, the current international framework on Capital Adequacy adopted in 1988 and Basel Committee on Banking Supervision's new framework, called Basel-II, under which public sector banks are required to increase their capital base to meet minimum requirements.The UPA-I had first brought the bill in Lok Sabha in December 2006 and it was referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee. But the bill lapsed due to the dissolution of the House. The present bill, which will now go to the Rajya Sabha, is broadly on the same lines as the lapsed one, but incorporates certain recommendations of the Standing Committee. Among the members who participated in the debate include Nishikant Dubey (BJP), Bhakta Charan Das (Cong), Gorakh Nath Pandey (BSP) and Shailendra Kumar (SP). The bill was opposed by CPI(M) member Anirudhan Sampath and Prashanta Majumdar (RSP).