Centrum Capital soars 19% after SFB nod from RBI

New Delhi: Shares of Centrum Capital zoomed 19 per cent in early trade on Wednesday as the RBI issued a licence to Unity Small Finance Bank, a subsidiary of the company, to carry on small finance bank business.

A consortium of Centrum Financial Services and BharatPe, that has got the nod to establish a small finance bank, is going to take over the crisis-impacted Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank.

Shares of Centrum Capital surged as much as 19 per cent to Rs 47.65 on Wednesday, just shy of its upper circuit. The scrip was trading at Rs 46.45 at 9.55 am.

In June, the Reserve Bank had given an in-principle approval for small finance bank to the consortium against its interest to take over PMC Bank, a city-based cooperative lender under restrictions for more than two years after a massive over Rs 7,000 crore fraud at the lender.

In a joint statement, Centrum and BharatPe, which are uniting equally to build the SFB, said the RBI's final approval has been received, and this is the first time in six years that the central bank has given a banking licence.

The new SFB has been incorporated as 'Unity Small Finance Bank' and the business model is 'one of collaboration and open architecture', uniting all its stakeholders to deliver a seamless digital experience, the statement said.

Shares of Centrum Capital have zoomed as much as 175 per cent in the calendar year 2021 so far, against a 27 per cent rise in BSE Sensex. The counter has gained more than 35 per cent in the last one month.

BharatPe has announced that former SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar is joining its board as the chairman and will be playing the role of a mentor for the fintech's team on the path to forming an SFB.