Day after Sebi action, DLF stock tanks 28%

Investors lost Rs 7,439 crore as DLF’s market capitalisation fell to Rs 18,701 crore.

BSE Sensex edged down on Tuesday as DLF Ltd plunged after the market regulator banned it from tapping capital markets. (Reuters)

Shares of India’s largest real estate developer DLF Ltd, which is at the centre of a political as well as regulatory storm, on Tuesday plummeted by 28.46 per cent to 104.95 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Markets watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India had on Monday barred the company and six of its top officials, including chairman K P Singh, from accessing the capital market.

The stock hit a life-time low of Rs 102.70 falling 29.99 per cent intra-day, and was the worst performer at the BSE. At the National Stock Exchange, the stock plunged 27.98 per cent to close at Rs 105.80. Investors lost Rs 7,439 crore as DLF’s market capitalisation fell to Rs 18,701 crore.

The Sebi action against DLF followed alleged “deliberate suppression of material information” during the company’s initial public offering (IPO) in 2007. The company has indicated that it will challenge the Sebi order in the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT). The company had said in a statement on Monday that “DLF will defend itself to the fullest extent against any adverse findings and measures contained in the order passed by SEBI”.

DLF’s market cap had crossed Rs 1 lakh crore soon after its listing in 2007, but fell later. The IPO had fetched Rs 9,187 crore, the biggest IPO in the country at that time. Selling was also seen in other realty stocks, with HDIL falling 5.11 per cent, Unitech 2.43 per cent, D B Realty 2 per cent and Anant Raj 1.23 per cent. The BSE Realty index ended 9.24 per cent lower at 1,419.23 — the biggest loser among the sectoral indices.