Shares of public sector lender, Dena Bank, slumped as much as 12.5 per cent on Monday as the Reserve Bank of India has initiated prompt corrective action against it. As part of this move, Dena Bank has now been barred from taking fresh credit exposure and also recruitment of staff.
The latest directive from the central bank was put before the board of this public sector bank at its meeting on May 11, Dena Bank had said in a filing to the stock exchanges.
After opening weak at Rs 18.30 against the previous close of Rs 18.45, the stock touched an intraday high of Rs 18.30 and a low of Rs 16.15 on the BSE. In terms of equity volume, 2.57 lakh shares exchanged hands in the morning trade.
Dena Bank had on Friday reported a net loss of Rs 1,225 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2018. This loss was much wider than the net loss of Rs 575 crore recorded in the same quarter last year. For the financial year 2017-18, it had recorded a net loss of Rs 1,924 crore. This is the third consecutive year that the bank has posted a net loss.
Earlier in May last year, RBI had initiated prompt corrective action against Dena Bank and imposed certain restrictions, in view of high net NPA and negative Return on Assets.