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Fraud, Dud Loans Drag Indian Bank Stocks Back to Earth: Chart

Bad loans, fraudulent transactions weigh on Indian banks and their stock prices.

Fraud, Dud Loans Drag Indian Bank Stocks Back to Earth: Chart
Fishermen pull on ropes to raise the cantilevered net of a shore-operated lift net at the Fort Kochi Chinese fishing nets in Cochin, Kerala. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)
Fraud, Dud Loans Drag Indian Bank Stocks Back to Earth: Chart

(Bloomberg) -- The $2 billion fraud at Punjab National Bank that surfaced days after India’s largest lender posted a surprise loss confirmed what many investors have known: bad loans and lapses in governance continue to hobble state banks. And they voted with their feet, putting a gauge of such lenders on course to erase the sharp rally spurred by the government’s $32 billion rescue announced in October. Sudip Bandyopadhyay, group chairman at Mumbai-based Inditrade Capital Ltd., said he’s been cautious on these banks “for the longest time” and the fund infusion is merely a “stop-gap arrangement.”

--With assistance from Ravil Shirodkar

To contact the reporter on this story: Nupur Acharya in Mumbai at nacharya7@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Divya Balji at dbalji1@bloomberg.net, Ravil Shirodkar

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