SBI dips 3% post deposit rate cut, Uttam Galva loan default; recovers later

At 9:44 am, SBI was trading 1.2 per cent lower at Rs 184 apiece on the NSE, as against a 0.5 per cent rise in the benchmark Nifty50 index.

Shares of State Bank of India (SBI) slipped 3.2 per cent to Rs 180.45 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday after the bank slashed its marginal cost-based lending rate (MCLR) by 35 basis points across all tenors. 

On Tuesday, India's largest public lender cut its marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR) for the 11th consecutive time in FY 2019-20, following rate cut announced by the Reserve Bank of India to tackle the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The one year MCLR will be 7.40 per cent per annum with effect from April 10, 2020.

It has also cut savings rate by 0.25 per cent to 2.75 per cent on all deposits. The new rate will come into effect from April 15, 2020. 

Besides, sentiment across the entire financial space was dampened after Uttam Galva Steels Ltd (UGSL) deaulted on loan worth Rs 664 crore in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. UGSL, which shut its plants and operations after the lockdown was announced last month, said it has an outstanding of Rs 1,008 crore to its creditors.

State Bank of India, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Indian Overseas Bank and Vijaya Bank have exposure to the company. Besides, the PSBs, ArcelorMittal is one of the top creditors of the company. A large part of Uttam Galva’s loans was taken over by ArcelorMittal from public sector banks after it made the bid for Essar Steel in 2018 and later won it after a long-drawn legal battle.

The loans were taken over by ArcelorMittal India Private Limited (AMIPL), which had paid off Rs 4,922 crore to the secured financial lenders of UGSL to clear the overdue principal amount as on September 30, 2018, and interest due as on October 17, 2018. Later, the overdue principal paid was assigned to AMIPL and the remaining outstanding loan (till completion of its tenure) continued with existing public sector banks as ‘surviving debt’. READ REPORT HERE

At 10:25 am, SBI recovered 7.6 per cent from lows and was trading 4 per cent higher at Rs 193.8 apiece on the NSE, as against a 3.64 per cent rise in the benchmark Nifty50 index. 

The Nifty Bank index hit an intra-day low of 18,482.90, down 3 per cent on the NSE, but recovered later to trade 5.45 per cent higher. Nifty PSU Bank index, too, bounced back 7 per cent from intra-day low of 1,238.30 level.
 

Among individual stocks, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Indian Bank, Punjab National Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, and HDFC Bank declined in the range of 1.7 per cent and 4 per cent on the NSE. On Tuesday, Nifty Bank had surged 5 per cent with counters such as IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India and Federal Bank advancing between 2 and 16 per cent.