Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC has increased its stake in India-based private sector lender Bandhan Bank from 3.39% to 4.49%.

GIC has increased its shareholding in Bandhan Bank through its affiliate Caladium Investment, showing confidence in the bank’s micro-lending business model.

As of 31 March 2020, Caladium Investment owned over 72.29 million shares in the Kolkata-based lender.

The GIC-backed firm has accumulated more than 17 million shares between January and March 2020, through secondary market operations.

Bandhan Bank’s latest shareholding pattern reveals that 13.05% of its total shares are held by foreign investors while the promoter Bandhan Financial Holdings owns 60.95%.

For the December quarter, Bandhan Bank posted a net profit of INR7.31bn ($95.3m), a year-on-year surge of 120.85%.

However, in the past few months, the bank’s share price plunged 65% to under INR200 per share from a 52-week high of INR650 apiece on concerns over its asset quality.

Lately, sovereign wealth funds are increasingly picking up stakes in Indian financial institutions.

Last week, People’s Bank of China raised its stake in HDFC to above 1%, comprising nearly 17.49 million shares of the Indian mortgage lender.

The disclosure, which is reflected in HDFC’s shareholding pattern in the last quarter, comes after the regulatory threshold of 1% has been hit.