BENGALURU (Reuters) – Rating agency Fitch, on Thursday, placed India’s IIFL Finance’s ‘B+’ long-term issuer default rating and medium-term note programme rating on negative watch.
This comes after the country’s central bank barred the non-banking finance company from offering gold loans earlier this month, citing “material supervisory concerns”.
“The move reflects a downside risk to IIFL Finance’s franchise, profitability and overall risk profile if regulatory restrictions on new gold-backed lending are prolonged,” Fitch said in a note.
The impact of the restrictions will depend on their duration and any spill-over effects on the rest of IIFL Finance’s business, Fitch said.
The company’s gold loans under management stood at 246.92 billion rupees (around $3 billion) as of Dec. 31, accounting for 32% of total loan assets.
IIFL Finance said on Wednesday it would raise funds of up to 20 billion rupees ($241.5 million) to shore up its capital, in addition to up to $200 million in liquidity support from top shareholder Fairfax India.
The company’s shares have tumbled nearly 38% since the Reserve Bank of India placed the restrictions on March 4. The stock settled 3.5% lower on Thursday.
($1 = 82.8140 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
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