Indian microlender SKS shares tumble again
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Shares in India’s largest microlender SKS Microfinance fell more than 14 per cent on Monday, the second straight trading day of heavy losses, following an analyst downgrade and weak earnings.
India's only listed microfinance firm slid 47.3 rupees to a new record low of 284 rupees on the Bombay Stock Exchange at the opening, although it clawed back some losses and was down 10.72 per cent at 295.80 rupees by late morning
On Friday, SKS posted a fourth-quarter net loss of nearly 700 million rupees ($16 million), swinging from a profit of 628.9 million rupees in the same period in 2010.
Its shares slumped nearly 20 per cent on Friday before the profits announcement after analysts at investment house JP Morgan downgraded the lender on worries about "deep earnings cuts".
The firm listed its shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange last August at 1,159 rupees.
India's microfinance firms have been reeling since southern Andhra Pradesh state — the hub of the country's microfinance industry — cracked down on lenders to stop what they said was "exploitation" of poor borrowers.
The state claimed many operators charged exorbitant rates of interest, equivalent to the loansharks that the microfinanciers had aimed to put out of business.
SKS, based in Andhra Pradesh capital Hyderabad, conducts more than a quarter of its business in the state.
The company had warned in 2010 that a new state law designed to curb elevated interest charges and heavy-handed debt collection could have a "high" impact on its earnings.
Concern about the sector's financial health has led commercial banks to withhold funding from some microlenders, who disperse small loans mainly to the rural poor who do not have access to mainstream banking.
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