Nomura and Morgan Stanley have upgraded their ratings on the shares of PSU banks after government’s Rs 2.11 crore recaitalisation push. (Image:Reuters)
After the Narendra Modi-led government announced a Rs 2.11 lakh recapitalisation plan for PSU banks, global research and brokerage firms cheered the move and upgraded their ratings on PSU banks shares. In a major announcement, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said that the cabinet has approved Rs 1.35 lakh crore to be infused into India’s ailing public banking system over next teo years. “Of the Rs. 2.11 lakh crore to be infused into public sector banks over two years, Rs.1.35 lakh crore will be through recapitalisation bonds, while remaining Rs. 76,000 crore will come from budgetary support and equity issuance,” Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar said.
Morgan Stanley upgraded the shares of SBI to overweight, first time since 2011. This morning, State Bank of India shares jumped more than 25% to hit 52-week high of Rs 316.95. Morgan Stanley has also upgraded Punjab National Bank, ICICI bank and Axis Bank to overweight. This morning, Punjab National Bank was the biggest gainer among the banking stocks, rising 40% to hit 52-week high of Rs 193.45 on NSE. ICICI bank shares rose by more than 8.5% to Rs 289.9 this morning, while Axis bank shares were trading at Rs 462.7. Further, the global firm has upgraded Bank of Baroda to equal-weight. Bank of Baroda shares rose 29% to Rs 185.6 this morning.
Track live stock prices: Punjab National Bank; ICICI; Axis Bank; SBI; Bank of Baroda
Nomura says that the bank recapitalisation is a big “game-changer,” and it expects a re-rating in PSU banks. “The recapitalisation package takes care of all requirements in one stroke. The capital infusion is highly dilutive but very positive for FY-19 adjusted books,” Nomura observed in a note.
The stocks of all the listed state-run banks on the PSU bank index of NSE traded in green today with a maximum rise of up to 40%. About Rs 7,300 crore worth of shares exchanged hands on the Nifty PSU Bank index within an hour trade which is Rs 2,300 crore (approx) short of Rs 9,600 crore turnover of Nifty.
“It was decided that a bold step needs to be taken by the government to recapitalise banks,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said yesterday. The banking sector fears accretion of more than Rs 40,000 crore of bad loans to its books following recent classification of eight consortium accounts of Axis Bank as non-performing assets (NPA) by the RBI.
