Equitas, Ujjivan, AU Small Finance Bank gain as RBI announces loan relief

The RBI announced a special long-term repo operation window for SFBs, whereby the banks can borrow funds up to Rs 10,000 crore at repo rate for deploying for fresh loans SFBs

Shares of small finance banks (SFBs) like Equitas SFB, Ujjivan SFB, AU SFB and Suryoday SFB, on Wednesday, rose up to 6 per cent from their respective intra-day day lows on the BSE after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced a special long-term repo operation window for SFBs, whereby the banks can borrow funds up to Rs 10,000 crore at repo rate for deploying for fresh loans SFBs, to be deployed for fresh lending of up to Rs 10 lakh per borrower.

Among the individual stocks, Ujjivan SFB gained 6 per cent to Rs 30.40, while, AU SFB was up 5 per cent to Rs 58.80, followed by Equitas SFB (up 4 per cent at Rs 58.80) and Suryoday SFB (1 per cent at Rs 248.80) on the BSE in intra-day trade today. At 11:39 am, except,Suryoday -- which was trading flat -- the remaining three stocks traded higher in the range of 2 per cent to 3 per cent. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.31 per cent at 48,403 points.

RBI governor Shaktikanta Das, in an unannounced press conference Wednesday morning, announced measures to help the economy during India’s second wave of Covid-19 infections. Loans, which can be given till March 31, 2022, by banks, will be classified as priority sector loans for three years or repayment whichever is earlier. The classification comes with a softer loan rate. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REPORT.

“The three year facility, which the banks can advance, to Rs 50,000 crore, is a good measure to immediately help ramp up medical and healthcare facilities. The benefits of this will help enhance capacity for the longer term as it covers diagnostic, preventive as well as combative aspects of healthcare. The smaller entities like micro finance institutions also benefit from the current package, which will bring some relief to them too which is one of the worst affected sectors as of now,” said Dr. Joseph Thomas, Head of Research, Emkay Wealth Management on today’s RBI Announcement.