India's Fino Payments Bank sinks as much as 14% after CEO arrest (updated)

FINO Payments Bank

02/03/2026 04:32

Adds details paragraph 2 onwards

March 2 (Reuters) - Shares of India's Fino Payments Bank FINY.NS slipped as much as 14.1% on Monday before paring some losses, after the lender said its Managing Director and CEO, Rishi Gupta, had been arrested under the country's goods and services tax law.

It was last down 5.2% at 182.50 rupees 09:48 a.m. IST. Benchmark Nifty 50 index .NSEI was trading 1% lower.

Late on Friday, Fino said that Gupta's arrest was linked to an investigation involving its business partners and was not related to the bank's own GST compliance.

In further clarifications to exchanges on Monday, the bank said that the investigation was related to programme managers associated with multiple banks.

The development comes a month after the Reserve Bank of India approved Gupta's reappointment as MD and CEO.

Chief Financial Officer Ketan Merchant will oversee operations in Gupta's absence, the bank said, adding that "the bank and Gupta have nothing to do with the actions of the program managers."

Fino received RBI approval in December to convert into a small finance bank, a move that would allow it to accept larger deposits, offer loans and credit facilities, and broaden its currently restricted payments bank remit.

The bank did not disclose further details.

 (Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy)

 ((Kashish.Tandon@thomsonreuters.com; 8800437922;))