HDFC Bank Crosses Rs 15 Lakh Crore Market Cap For First Time, Becomes Third Indian Firm To Achieve This Milestone

HDFC Bank’s market capitalisation has surpassed the Rs 15 lakh crore-mark on April 22 for the first time. The private lender’s stock surged 2.25 per cent to touch a new all-time high of Rs 1,970.60 on the NSE, extending its winning streak for the sixth consecutive day. However, it settled at Rs 1,960, with 1.71 per cent gains.

With this rally, HDFC Bank has joined the ranks of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). RIL, as of April 22’s close, boasts a market capitalisation of Rs 17.47 lakh crore. TCS currently has a market capitalisation of around Rs 12 lakh crore. The recent corrections seen in shares of IT services companies amid US government’s uncertainty-filled trade policies has brought the Tata Group company’s market capitalisation below the Rs 15 lakh crore-mark.

Rs 1.5 Lakh Crore Jump Came In Last Nine Sessions

From this month's low of Rs 1,738.20, hit on April 7, the bank's stock has surged over 13 per cent, contributing to a sharp Rs 1 lakh crore jump in its market capitalisation in the previous nine trading sessions.

According to the shareholding data on the NSE, the bank has total 662.38 crore outstanding shares. A jump of Rs 223.5 per share, from Rs 1,738.20 to today’s close of Rs 1,960 over the previous nine trading sessions, has added about Rs 1.48 lakh crore to its overall market capitalisation.

Rally In Bank Stocks

Bajaj Broking Research said that banking stocks saw strong buying interest after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released its final Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) guidelines. The updated rules, which are much more relaxed than the initial draft, are expected to boost the sector's LCR by 600 basis points, the research firm added.

However, the upward trend in bank stocks has been building up for a while, led by multiple domestic and global factors, and HDFC Bank is at the forefront of this rally.

Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research at Kotak Securities, told Outlook Money earlier this week, that along with the RBI’s supportive stance on liquidity several factors such as better-than-expected asset quality among major banks, attractive valuations, easing stress in the microfinance segment, return of Foreign Institutional Investor (FII) inflows are also supporting the rally.

He had also noted that the domestic-centric lending model of Indian banks in the backdrop of the uncertainities in global trade policies are also helping bank stocks sustain the momentum.

The Nifty Bank index, which tracks the performance of the 10 major public and private bank stocks, surged nearly 11 per cent during its six-session winning streak.