PSU banks in focus; Bank of Baroda, PNB, Bank of India up over 4%

IDBI Bank, PNB, Bank of Baroda, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Bank of India from Nifty PSU Bank index were up more than 3% on the NSE.

Shares of public sector banks were in focus with the Nifty PSU Bank index up nearly 3% in noon deals on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) after media reports suggested that the government may outline the details of PSU recapitalisation plan later in the day. 

At 12:15 AM; the Nifty PSU Bank index, the largest gainer among sectoral indices, was up 2.9% at 3,726, as compared to 0.29% rise in the benchmark Nifty 50 index. Nifty Bank index was up 0.43%, while Nifty Private Bank index up marginally by 0.5%.

IDBI Bank, Punjab National Bank (PNB), Bank of Baroda (BOB), Oriental Bank of Commerce and Bank of India from the banking index were up more than 3%. UCO Bank, Dena Bank, Corporation Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Vijaya Bank and United Bank of India, the non-index stocks, were up in the range of 3% to 8% on NSE.

The boards of three banks – UCO Bank (Rs 1,375 crore), Central Bank of India (Rs 323 crore) and Bank of Maharashtra (Rs 650 crore) - on Wednesday approved the recapitalisation plan. Besides, the government has also decided to infuse Rs 2,257 crore in the Bank of India, Rs 2,729 crore in IDBI Bank, and Rs 243 crore in Dena Bank.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley in October, 2017 had announced an unprecedented Rs 2.11-lakh-crore two-year road map to strengthen public sector banks, reeling under high non-performing assets (NPAs).

Moody's Investors Service says that the gap between the capital profiles of Indian public and private sector banks is expected to narrow following the government's announced Rs 2.11 trillion ($32 billion) recapitalization plan for the public sector banks, which are financially the weaker entities.

Moreover, Moody's Indian affiliate ICRA says the deterioration in asset quality -- in terms of gross non-performing assets (GNPAs) -- may peak by FY2018, but elevated levels of provisioning on these NPAs will continue to negatively affect the banks during FY2018 and FY2019.

"The capital infusion will also help public sector banks build their provisioning coverage ratios as they will be able to allocate much of their operating profits towards loan-loss provisioning without having to worry about the impact on their capital positions," says Alka Anbarasu, a Moody's Vice President and Senior Analyst.

"As such, Moody's expects the rated banks will achieve an average provision coverage of 70% by fiscal 2019, allowing them to take appropriate haircuts on problem assets. Such haircuts reflect one step in the regulator's efforts towards a thorough clean-up of balance sheets across these banks," says Anbarasu.

COMPANY	LATEST	PREV CLOSE	GAIN(%)
IDBI BANK	64.60	59.45	8.7
UCO BANK	33.15	30.60	8.3
DENA BANK	27.40	25.40	7.9
BANK OF BARODA	164.35	157.70	4.2
BANK OF INDIA	175.30	168.30	4.2
PUNJAB NATL.BANK	173.70	166.80	4.1
BANK OF MAHA	24.00	23.05	4.1
I O B	23.30	22.50	3.6
CORPORATION BANK	41.30	39.90	3.5
ORIENTAL BANK	123.65	119.80	3.2
UNITED BANK (I)	18.55	18.00	3.1
ANDHRA BANK	59.05	57.35	3.0
UNION BANK (I)	147.35	143.15	2.9
VIJAYA BANK	68.95	67.00	2.9
CANARA BANK	362.50	353.15	2.7
CENTRAL BANK	77.70	75.75	2.6
ST BK OF INDIA	309.30	302.85	2.1