Rumours of Rotomac Pens' owner fleeing pulls down bank stocks

The troubles of the banking sector doesn’t seem to end. While the probe in the PNB fraud case has gathered all the limelight, rumours of Vikram Kothari owner of Rotamac Pens leaving the country further pulled down PSU bank stocks. Kothari was declared a wilful defaulter in 2017.

CBI has filed a FIR on Sunday charging Kothari of defaulting on loans worth Rs. 800 crore. Kothari has failed to repay loans taken from Allahabad Bank, BoB, BoI, Indian Overseas Bank and UBI. Reports suggest that Kothari has taken a loan worth Rs. 485 crore from Union Bank of India and a loan worth Rs. 352 crore from Allahabad Bank of India, respectively.

The S&P BSE Bankex plunged to an intraday low of 27946.95 level, down by 1.58 per cent during Monday’s trade. The index closed at 28233.50 level, down by 0.57 per cent on Monday. While Punjab National Bank was the highest in the index, down by over 7 per cent; followed by Bank of Baroda and SBI. All the banking stocks were trading in negative or neutral in Monday’s trade.