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Shares of Muthoot Finance slipped as much as 8.2% on Friday to Rs 1,964.35 on the BSE, extending their two-day decline to 14% after the Reserve Bank of India said it would soon introduce comprehensive regulations for gold-backed loans.The selloff began on Wednesday after the RBI announced plans to harmonise prudential norms and conduct standards across regulated entities offering gold loans. Muthoot, one of the country’s largest gold loan financiers, derives 98% of its total Assets Under Management (AUM) from loans backed by gold jewellery.“Loans against the collateral of gold jewellery and ornaments, commonly known as gold loans, are extended by regulated entities for both consumption and income-generation purposes,” said RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra during his monetary policy speech. “In order to harmonise guidelines across various types of regulated entities, to the extent possible, keeping in view their differential risk-bearing capabilities, we shall issue comprehensive regulations.”The upcoming rules include a uniform Loan-to-Value (LTV) cap of 75% for all gold loans. Bullet repayment loans must maintain this ratio on the full amount due at maturity, and if breached for over 30 days, lenders will need to make an additional 1% provision. Loans cannot be renewed if the LTV cap is breached at maturity.Additionally, lenders must classify gold loans taken for income-generating purposes based on actual usage and are required to document and monitor the end-use of such funds.The regulatory move was announced alongside a broader monetary policy easing. The RBI cut its benchmark repo rate by 25 basis points to 6%, its second straight cut, and shifted its stance from “neutral” to “accommodative”. The SDF rate now stands at 5.75%, while the MSF and Bank Rate were set at 6.25%.The central bank also lowered its GDP growth forecast for FY26 to 6.5%, from 6.7% previously.Shares of other lenders with gold loan exposure, such as Manappuram Finance and IIFL Finance—which have 50% and 21% of their AUM in gold loans, respectively—also declined earlier this week following the RBI announcement.Also read | Muthoot Finance, IIFL Finance shares fall up to 9% as RBI plans to tighten gold loan guidelines(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)

Shares of Biocon rallied 5.6% to an intraday high of Rs 322.25 on the BSE on Friday after its subsidiary, Biocon Biologics, announced it had received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to market Jobevne (bevacizumab-nwgd), a biosimilar to Avastin, for the intravenous treatment of various cancers.Jobevne is a recombinant humanized monoclonal antibody that functions as a VEGF inhibitor, helping to combat tumors by blocking blood vessel growth.This marks Biocon’s seventh biosimilar approved in the U.S., further strengthening its oncology portfolio. The company already markets the drug in Europe and Canada under the brand name Abeymy.CEO and MD Shreehas Tambe described the approval as a significant milestone that reinforces Biocon’s commitment to expanding access to treatment.Bevacizumab sales in the U.S. reached approximately $2 billion in 2023.Shares of the pharma company have risen 10% in the past year but underperformed its sector by 1.59%. Over the last three years, the stock has declined by 14%.