FPIs hike stake in SBI Cards for second quarter in a row

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) increased their stake in SBI Cards and Payment Services for the second quarter in a row, buying an additional 16 million shares during July-September quarter (Q3CY20).

FPI holding in the company increased to 5.93 per cent in Q3CY20 from 4.23 per cent at the end of June quarter (Q2CY20), according to shareholding pattern disclose by the company. Foreign investors held 4.07 per cent holding in SBI Cards at the end of March quarter (Q1CY20) and 3.53 per cent as on listing day March 16, 2020. In the past six months, SBI Cards has rallied 81 per cent, as against 34 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.

Shares of SBI Cards and Payments rose 3 per cent to hit a new high of Rs 918.60 on the BSE on Thursday in an otherwise weak market. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.37 per cent at 40,639 points at 11:01 am.

The stock has rallied 7 per cent in the past two trading days after SBI Card on Tuesday said it has kick-started festive season offers in line with the changing shopping trends where customers will be offered discounts as well as cashback across a host of brands.

“With over 1,000 offers across 2,000 cities, SBI Card endeavours to bring customers rewarding shopping experience on their festive season purchases”, the company said in a release.

SBI Cards is a non-banking financial company that offers extensive credit card portfolio to individual cardholders and corporate clients which includes lifestyle, rewards, travel & fuel and banking partnerships cards along with corporate cards covering all major cardholders’ segments in terms of income profile and lifestyle. Presently, the brand has a wide customer base of over 10 million.