Bank of India may offer liquidity support to brokers

Mumbai: Bank of India is open to offer funds to brokers needing additional liquidity in the face of the stock market mayhem and the bank will not resort to panic selling, its chairman and managing director T S Narayanasami said.

"We will not resort to panic selling as we are confident that the markets will revive as the fundamentals of the economy remain strong," he told reportes.

"The current crisis is a temporary thing and we in the bank are taking a very pragmatic view of the situation. We will be willing to provide brokers with additional liquidity," he said.

Also, if required, the bank will, with due consent of the regulator, could look at adjusting the margin for them, he added.

As per law, bank's capital exposure could be 40 per cent of their net worth. Bank of India could take exposure up to Rs2,200 crore, which at present was much below the figure.

His statement followed a continued fall in the 30-share BSE Sensex, which continued its southward movement for the second day, registering an intraday fall of 2,029 points.

Trading had to be suspended for about an hour but the index still closed in the red, down by over 850 points.