Mumbai: Erasing early gains, shares of Bharti Airtel and Tech Mahindra ended with losses in-line with an overall weak broader market even as these companies got Reserve Bank’s nod to set up non-lending payments banks as part of the financial inclusion drive.
Shares of Bharti Airtel that rose by 2.34% in early trade, came under selling pressure during the second-half and ended at Rs 379.35, down 0.98% on BSE.
Similarly, Reliance Industries lost 3.55% to Rs 918.85, while Tech Mahindra fell by 0.09% to Rs 559.55 and Aditya Birla Nuvo was down 1.99% to Rs 2,217.
“Even the granted in-principle approval to a total of 11 applicants including RIL and other market giants by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 19 August 2015, for setting up payments banks could not hold the markets for long,” said Jayant Manglik, President, Retail Distribution, Religare Securities.
Companies run by billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Kumar Mangalam Birla as well as telcos Bharti Airtel and Vodafone are among the 11 entities that yesterday got the Reserve Bank’s nod to set up payments banks as part of the financial inclusion drive.
Reliance Industries, which had previously announced partnership with State Bank of India, Airtel M Commerce Services Limited, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Vodafone m-pesa, Tech Mahindra and Department of Post got ‘in-principle’ approval from RBI to set up such niche banks.
Payments bank licence will allow companies to collect deposits (initially up to Rs 1 lakh per individual), offer Internet banking, facilitate money transfers and sell insurance and mutual funds.
Besides, they can issue ATM/debit cards, but not credit cards.
In the broader market, the benchmark BSE Sensex fell by 323.82 points to end at 27,607.82.
PTI