China Central Bank Raises Stake In India’s HDFC

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has raised its stake in Housing Development Finance Corp. (HDFC) to just over 1%, reported Bloomberg. 

China’s central bank held about 17.5 million shares at the end of March, according to quarterly data filed by India’s biggest mortgage lender to exchanges. It is mandatory for companies to disclose shareholding of more than 1% at the end of every quarter.

The PBOC held about 0.8% stake at the end of March 2019, Keki Mistry, vice-chairman and chief executive officer at the lender told BloombergQuint by phone. It has since raised its stake to more than 1% as of March this year, Mistry was cited as saying.

HDFC’s shares plunged 25% last month amid the brutal selloff in global markets on concerns about the spreading coronavirus pandemic. The stock is among the worst performers this year on India’s 30-stock S&P BSE Sensex index.

“The stock is fairly priced now after the correction. It may be right to raise stake in HDFC,” said Chokkalingam G, founder of Equinomics Research & Advisory Pvt. in Mumbai. “In the short-to-medium term, though, it may be painful as the wealth erosion due to the outbreak means that the home-loan companies will take long to return to normal growth.”

Full Content: Bloomberg

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