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Pushed by the regulatory action by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) against 4 NBFc including Asirvad Micro Finance, the shares of its parent company, Manappuram Finance, plummeted by 21% in a week, driven by investor concerns over the company's future.The regulator directed the NBFC to cease and desist from sanction and disbursal of loans, effective October 21.Today is the 9th consecutive session where the stock is trading in red.“Asirvad Micro Finance accounts for 27% of the consolidated assets under management (AUM) for Manappuram Finance, which is sizeable, hence a thorough review, risk management, and regulatory & compliance overhaul would have to be undertaken, to restore investor confidence,” said Aamar Deo Singh, Sr. Vice President of Research at Angel One.Singh also advised the investors to stay cautious and watch the actions taken by the company’s management to address the concerns raised as that will only assuage investor fears.Post the RBI action, the stock also attracted downgrades from various brokerage firms with the target prices going as low as Rs 167, a level which was broken on the next day of the central bank’s orders.Also read: Paytm Q2 Results: Fintech posts Rs 928 cr PAT on one-time gain; revenue slides 34% YoYOn charts, the stock is placed below all its significant short, medium and long term exponential moving averages (EMAs) and is in an oversold zone on the RSI, oscillating near the 14 mark.Technically, the stock is currently trading in a short-term bearish trend, with the monthly chart reflecting a double top pattern.“This pattern (double-top), along with a strong bearish candle, has resulted in a 37% correction from its all-time high. The stock is now moving in a sideways to bearish trend, suggesting high volatility within a defined range,” said Mandar Bhojane, Equity Research Analyst at Choice Broking.Bhojane also added that the immediate support is seen near Rs 140 level, where a rising trendline also provides additional support and if a bullish reversal occurs around the same, it could be viewed as a buy-on-dips opportunity. “However, if the stock breaks below this level, further downside correction toward Rs 125 is possible. On the resistance front, Rs 160 and Rs 180 are the next key levels that traders should watch, Bhojane said.With that, it is recommended that the investors currently holding positions should maintain a stop loss at Rs 140 and look for signs of a bullish reversal at key support levels before considering any further action.The shares of Manappuram Finance were trading 2.14% lower at Rs 143.75 on BSE around 11:30 am today.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)

Mumbai: Most private bank stocks declined after their second-quarter results disappointed investors.Kotak Mahindra Bank dived 4.7% and RBL Bank plunged 13.8%. HDFC Bank shares advanced 2.6%, emerging as sole gainer in Bank Nifty index, which shed 0.3%. Benchmark Nifty ended 0.3% lower at 24,781 in choppy trades.Analysts said the deterioration in asset quality, especially in the microfinance and credit card segments, and pressure on margins impacted profitability."Deterioration in asset quality is being driven by higher slippages, particularly in the credit card and microfinance segments," said Manish Chowdhury, head of research at Stoxbox.There is an issue of over-leveraging among younger borrowers, said Suresh Ganapathy, head-financial sector research at Macquarie Capital. "When the bank gave a loan at that time, there could be, say, two loans for the borrower...a few quarters later, the guy has taken three more loans thanks to NBFCs, Fintechs and other smaller banks," he said. "With inflation and other issues, he is facing difficulty in paying off the loans. The issue we are hearing is that on credit cards, many are withdrawing cash and then paying off their home loans or auto loans. That kind of behaviour is emerging at the junior level, Gen Zs and millennials - there is indeed an issue."A look at bank stocks that have seen outsised moves based on their earnings in Monday's trading:HDFC BankThe stock bucked the weak trend in the banking sector because investors are of the view that the lender is in a better position to deal with margin pressure."Although the bank has faced NIM (Net Interest Margin) pressure, a common issue within the banking industry, we believe there are strong indicators that the bank will improve overall profitability going ahead," said Chowdhury.HDFC Bank's shares rose 2.3% in the last five sessions against an up move of 0.1% in the Bank Nifty in the same period. "HDFC Bank has gone up as buying interest in the stock has come back as it is a defensive stock with stable asset quality," said Kaitav Shah, lead BFSI analyst at Anand Rathi Institutional Equities. "However, growth challenges remain as attested by the management as well and may persist until next year."RBL BankThe weakness in the stock was after RBL Bank's net profit dropped 24% from a year ago due to asset quality issues in its credit card and micro-lending portfolios."Investors should carefully consider the risks posed by these asset quality challenges before making any investment decisions," said Chowdhury.

Mumbai: Retail investors have allocated large sums to equity mutual fund plans in the past one year, buoyed by higher past returns, simplified products, tax efficiency, deeper penetration, and increased use of pooled funds as a wealth creation tool.Net inflows into equity-oriented schemes rose 95% to ₹4.3 lakh crore in September 2024 from ₹2.21 lakh crore a year ago, while inflows through systematic investment plans (SIP) increased by 41% to ₹2.43 lakh crore, compared with ₹1.72 lakh crore in the same period. With a buoyant equity market, many fund houses took the opportunity to launch new products that saw inflows of ₹1.11 lakh crore, a rise of 57% compared with ₹70,560 crore in the previous year. "Increased awareness about mutual funds has led to higher acceptance for investing in these products. This trend is rising and mutual funds have become the primary vehicle for many investors to build wealth," said A Balasubramanian, CEO of Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund.114442583A report by Nomura said that the Indian mutual fund industry remains significantly underpenetrated, with the industry assets under management (AUM) to GDP of 18% versus the global average of 65%. There are 50 million unique investors versus 750 million PAN cardholders, which translates into a penetration of 3.3%, thus providing a large addressable market."Several steps taken by the regulator, including categorisation and rationalisation of mutual fund schemes, have simplified products for investors. Transparency, flexibility, liquidity and ability to start investments with low amounts have attracted investors to mutual funds," said Dheeraj Gaur, CEO of Arete Capital Services.Distributors point out that portfolios of mutual funds are available every month and net asset value (NAV) is declared daily, which helps increase investor confidence. The low ticket size of ₹500, the flexibility to start and stop SIPs, and hybrid products that have equity taxation have attracted investors.Equity mutual funds also score in tax efficiency with long-term capital gains tax of 12.5% to be paid after holding for a year, compared to 30% in fixed-income products like fixed deposits for rich investors.However, some distributors also point out that many retail investors have come to mutual funds in the last 3-4 years chasing past returns and have not seen a drawdown so far."High returns with no drawdowns, have led to higher allocation from investors towards equity mutual funds. Several investors now prefer these products over traditional deposits," said Anup Bhaiya, CEO of Money Honey Financial Services.

New Delhi: The cardiac and anti-diabetes drugs market in India has expanded more than threefold in the past 10 years, data from market research firm Pharmarack suggested. The anti-diabetes market has grown to nearly Rs 17,000 crore from Rs 5,000 crore in 2014, while the cardiac market has expanded to nearly Rs 30,000 crore from Rs 10,000 crore during this period.Innovative medicines, with their premium pricing and better reach, have pushed the market value up, said Sheetal Sapale, vice president, commercial, Pharmarack.According to the research company's data, there are four brands now with a turnover of at least Rs 200 crore while there were none a decade ago.In the diabetes segment, there are close to 13 brands which have a turnover of Rs 200-400 crore."If I look at the contribution of these segments to diabetes, it becomes a little mind-boggling. Thirteen brands contribute to almost 26% of the diabetes market today. Imagine how big the brands have become," Sapale said.As per the data, the number of brands in the diabetes segment has more than doubled from 653 in 2018.Sapale said that this may have happened as 2019 onwards, all the innovative molecules that came in the diabetes segment gradually started losing their patents."The moment they started losing patents, many of the branded generics entered the market. And that's probably the reason why I see this doubling of the market number of brands. Here I have considered only the brands where the turnover is Rs 1-10 crore. But if I want to take the numbers below Rs 1 crore, I will actually get a lot of brands," she added.