SKS Microfinance hits the roof on hike in FII limit

The announcement was made during trading hours today, 21 December 2011.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 218.20 points, or 1.44%, to 15,393.28.

On BSE, 74,000 shares were traded in the counter as against an average daily volume of 1.50 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 98.35 and a low of Rs 94 so far during the day. The stock had hit a record low of Rs 90.20 on 1 December 2011. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 756 on 20 January 2011.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month until 20 December 2011, slumping 23.45% compared with the Sensex's 7.31% decline. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, sliding 69.96% as against 11.25% fall in the Sensex.

The small-cap microfinance lender has an equity capital of Rs 72.36 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

Shares of SKS Microfinance had risen as much as 3.99% before ending down 0.27% to Rs 93.70 in a weak market on Tuesday (20 December 2011) after the Reserve Bank of India allowed microfinance institutions to raise up to $10 million through external commercial borrowings, as against the earlier limit of $5 million.

"Considering the specific needs of the microfinance sector, the existing ECBs policy has been reviewed in consultation with the Government of India and it has been decided that microfinance institutions (MFIs) may be permitted to raise ECB up to $10 million or equivalent during a financial year for permitted end-uses, under the automatic route," the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a notification on Monday (19 December 2011).

It has also been decided that non-government organisations (NGOs) engaged in microfinance activities can avail of ECB up to $10 million or equivalent per financial year under the automatic route, up from $5 million or equivalent, RBI said.

The move is expected to address the issue of liquidity crunch that the MFI sector has been witnessing in recent times.

SKS Microfinance reported net loss of Rs 384.54 crore in Q2 September 2011 as against net profit of Rs 80.55 crore in Q2 September 2010. Operating income declined 64.8% to Rs 122.29 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q2 September 2010.

SKS Microfinance distributes small loans that begin at Rs 2,000 to Rs 12,000 (about $44-$260) to poor women so they can start and expand simple businesses and increase their incomes. Their micro-enterprises range from raising cows and goats in order to sell their milk, to opening a village tea stall. SKS uses the group lending model where poor women guarantee each other's loans. SKS also offers micro-insurance to the poor as well as financing for other goods and services that can help them combat poverty.

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