HDFC Bank, YES Bank, IndusInd, ICICI shares: 7 top private bank stocks add Rs 65K crore m-cap

Seven top private sector banks namely HDFC Bank Ltd, YES Bank Ltd, IndusInd Bank Ltd, ICICI Bank Ltd, Axis Bank Ltd, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd and IDBI Bank Ltd added Rs 64,000 crore to their combined market capitalisation (m-cap) on a day the benchmark BSE Bankex climbed twice as much as Sensex. 

At the fag-end of trading, the largest private lender HDFC Bank w trading 2.10 per cent higher at Rs 1,432.25. It commanded a market value of Rs 10,87,489.96 crore compared with Rs 10,65,587.50 crore on Thursday. ICICI Bank, the second largest private lender, saw its m-cap rising to Ts 7,62,060.83 crore from Rs 7,39,436.81 crore, as the scrip rose 3.28 per cent to Rs 1,088.05.

Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd, the third largest private bank in terms of market value, advanced 2.14 per cent to Rs 1,727. The lender commanded a m-cap of Rs 3,43,001.33 crore against Rs 3,36,113.28 crore a day ago. Axis Bank Ltd added 2.18 per cent to Rs 1,099.20. Axis Bank's m-cap stood at Rs 3,39,083.85 crore against Rs 3,31,910 crore on Thursday.     

While about 235 stocks on BSE hit their 52-week highs for the day, none of the BSE Bankex shares was a part of the list.  IndusInd Bank soared 3.54 per cent, IDBI Bank added 1.48 per cent while YES Bank added 1.35 per cent. In total, the seven top private lenders by m-cap added Rs 64,919.46 crore to Rs 28,15,967.15 crore from Rs 27,51,047.69 crore.  

The BSE Bankex was up 1,219.41 points, or 2.32 per cent, to 53,675.99. With this, the banking index has cut its year-to-date losses to 1.2 per cent.   While PSU stocks have seen persistent buying interest of late, private banks are down, as they grapple with a historically high CD ratio.   

With the increase in the risk-weights, sluggish deposit growth and the RBI’s nudge to lower credit-deposit ratio, most
of the private banks indicated loan growth to slow down, IIFL Securities said in a note. 

Corporate loan growth has picked up from the tepid levels, but given the low pricing power, is unlikely to accelerate
sharply. "HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank and Federal have scope to further increase the share of unsecured loans. We expect system loan growth run-rate to slow down to 13-14 per cent in FY25E," IIFL said.