Mahindra Finance plunges 10% after RBI action but says business won’t be affected

The share price of Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services declined over 10 percent in the morning trade on September 22, a day after the Reserve Bank of India barred the company from outsourcing loan recovery or repossession activity.

At 10.05 am, the scrip was quoting Rs 201.50, down  9.92 percent on the National Stock Exchange.

The RBI crackdown followed after a 27-year-old pregnant woman was allegedly crushed to death by a tractor which was forcibly being driven away by the company’s recovery agent in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh.

The non-banking finance company, however, can continue to carry out recovery or repossession activities, through its employees, the RBI said in a statement.

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In an exchange filing, the company said RBI’s restriction would not have a significant impact on the collections.

“In the normal course of its business, the company repossesses about 4,000 to 5,000 vehicles per month, using the third-party agencies and its own employees. We expect this number to go down temporarily by about 3000 to 4000 per month, as the company implements the RBI order with immediate effect,” the company said in an exchange filing.

The temporary halt to repossession activity using the third-party agencies was not expected to have any material impact either on the financials, it added.

Morgan Stanley has an “overweight” call on the stock with a target price of Rs 225 per share. “The company can make alternate arrangements till the order remains in force,” the brokerage noted.

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