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Housing Finance Arm Surpasses Parent PNB In Valuation

PNB Housing Finance subsidiary pips the bank in market capitalisation.

Pedestrians walk past an advertisement for Punjab National Bank. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)
Pedestrians walk past an advertisement for Punjab National Bank. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)
Housing Finance Arm Surpasses Parent PNB In Valuation

Mortgage lender PNB Housing Finance Ltd. is now more valuable than Punjab National Bank, the parent whose market-capitalisation has fallen nearly by half after it reported a Rs 14,000-crore fraud.

Shares of India’s second largest state-owned lender have declined by 48 percent since February when the fraud involving jewellers Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi came to light. In comparison, PNB Housing Finance gained 1 percent during the period.

PNB’s market capitalisation stands at Rs 20,770 crore compared with Rs 21,205 crore for its housing finance arm. PNB owned a 32.96 percent stake in its subsidiary as on March 31— it’s now worth Rs 6,990 crore.

The lender reported its biggest-ever quarterly loss at Rs 13,417 crore in the quarter ended March, partly because of the fraud and due to the Reserve Bank of India’s revised guidelines on stressed assets.

PNB Housing Finance’s assets under management and profit grew over 40 percent each in the fourth quarter.