SKS Microfinance hits 52-week low on poor Q2 numbers

Shares of SKS Microfinance today slumped to a 52-week low level in morning trade after the country's only listed MFI reported a loss of Rs 384 crore for the September quarter on lower income and higher provisioning.

SKS Microfinance opened lower and later tanked 10% to hit its lower circuit limit of Rs 188.15 on the BSE.

Similar trend was witnessed on the National Stock Exchange, where the company plunged by 10% to its 52-week low of Rs 188.30.

Analysts attributed the sharp fall in the counter to poor Q2 numbers announced yesterday.

The company reported a net loss of Rs 384 crore for the September quarter against a profit of Rs 80.55 crore in the July-September quarter of the previous fiscal.

The stock, however, regained some lost ground and was trading at Rs 197.70, down 5.41% on the BSE at 1105 hrs. On NSE it was trading at Rs 198.25, lower by 5.23%.

Micro finance— the practice of giving small loans to poor people— have come under intense scrutiny after a string of farmer suicides in the Andhra Pradesh, leading to the creation of an Act to regulate their activities, which in turn has hampered micro finance activity.