New Delhi: State Bank of India (SBI) said on Tuesday it will buy good quality assets worth Rs 45,000 crore from NBFCs that are facing liquidity crunch triggered by a series of debt repayment defaults by financial conglomerate IL&FS and its subsidiaries. SBI, which earlier planned to purchase assets worth Rs 15,000 crore, has decided to buy additional assets of up to Rs 30,000 crore.”This is a good commercial opportunity for the bank to increase the loan portfolio as NBFC assets are available at attractive rates,” SBI Managing Director P K Gupta said.
It will benefit both SBI and the NBFC sector as they get much required liquidity while the bank will get good loan portfolio, he said further.”Bank had initially planned for a growth of Rs 15,000 crore through portfolio purchase during the current year which is now being enhanced. As per bank’s internal assessment, there may be an opportunity to buy additional portfolio in the range of Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 crore,” SBI said in a statement.
The country’s largest lender said that it has stepped up target purchase of good quality portfolio of assets from NBFCs.NBFC stocks have wilted due to heavy selling pressure following the IL&FS defaults since late September as investors raised concerns over the rising cost of borrowing for them amidst IL&FS crisis.”There is a good opportunity to expand its loan portfolio at attractive rates. The bank is looking for opportunities both in priority and non-priority sectors,” SBI added.
