Banking Sector

Analysing the balance sheets of various banks for FY23, Jefferies said that banks are following divergent strategies to lift their deposit growth and not just depending on interest rate hikes.

IT companies reported sluggish topline growth due to delay in execution (largely at the client end) but margins improved.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has projected India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to grow at 6.5 per cent in Financial Year (FY) 24.

In a regulatory filing HDFC Life said it had earned a net premium of about Rs 14,755 crore (Q2FY23 Rs 13,110 crore) and a net profit of about Rs 376 crore (Rs 326 crore).

Leading banking names have the strength to continue supporting the market, he said.

In the newspaper advertisement – that has been widely circulated in the social media- BOB has said borrower Ajay Sing Deol, alias Sunny Deol, owes the bank about Rs 55.99 plus interest and cost from 26.12.2022 onwards less recovery upto date. Whether the bank misspelt the actor’s name as Ajay Sing Deol instead of Ajay Singh Deol is yet to be ascertained.

On the other hand, PSU banks are flying. Indian Overseas Bank is up more than 11 per cent, Central Bank of India is up more than 7 per cent, UCO Bank is up more than 5 per cent, Punjab and Sind Bank is up 4.8 per cent, Bank of Maharashtra is up more than 3 per cent, Bank of India is up more than 3 per cent.

Q1 results of RIL, though a tad disappointing on top and bottom line, are good when viewed from the perspective of the growth engines of the company -- Jio Infocom and Reliance Retail -- which are doing well and shows promise of improving, going forward, he said.

Vikram Kasat, head advisory, Prabhudas Lilladher, said Nifty Index made a higher high in Thursday’s session, whereas the BankNifty Index is still significantly below the previous high, leading to inter-market divergence in the short term.

Nine banks reported double-digit percentage gains in market capitalization, led by IDFC First Bank Ltd. with a 44.53% climb to $6.41 billion. The lender rose to No. 11 from No. 14 in the ranking. Just two lenders -- Bank of India Ltd. and The Federal Bank Ltd. -- posted market cap declines.