Mumbai, Nov 20 (IANS): Shares of the Tamil Nadu-based beleaguered Lakshmi Vilas Bank continued to plunge on Friday as it fell nearly 10 per cent to hit a 52-week low of Rs 9 per share.

In the past three days, its stock price has tumbled over 40 per cent after the government on Tuesday placed the bank under moratorium for 30 days.

At 1.20 p.m. its shares on the BSE were at Rs 9, lower by 9.55 per cent from its previous close.

Following an application submitted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Central government on Tuesday brought Lakshmi Vilas Bank under moratorium till December 16, and restricted withdrawals by depositors to Rs 25,000 each.

RBI has also proposed a draft scheme of amalgamation of Lakshmi Vilas Bank with DBS Bank India Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of DBS Bank Ltd, Singapore.

Concerns have been raised that shareholders of the bank may not be getting any benefit as per the Reserve Bank's draft scheme for its amalgamation with DBS Bank India.

Individual shareholders of Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) are now betting their hopes on institutional shareholders to secure some value for their hard-earned investment in the bank's stock.

There are about 97,245 individual shareholders in LVB holding 46.73 per cent stake in LVB apart from the institutional holders.