HDFC Bank Ltd on Thursday crossed the $100 billion market capitalisation, becoming only the third firm in the country to achieve this milestone.
The lender is now in the league of Reliance Industries Ltd, which has a market cap of $140.74 billion, and Tata Consultancy Services that has a market cap of $114.60 billion.
With this, HDFC Bank now ranks 110th in the world’s most valued companies. According to Bloomberg data, currently, there are 109 companies in the list which have market cap of over $100 billion.
Among the most valued banks and financial companies around the world which have a market cap of over $100 billion, HDFC Bank ranks 26th.
Investors continued to buy the stock on hope the lender would report consistent earnings performance, steady 20% profit growth, stable asset quality and healthy advances growth.
The stock was trading 0.4% higher at ₹1297.50 on the BSE, while Sensex fell 0.09% to 41519.69 points. In the last 12 months, the stock has gained 22%, while the S&P Bankex, the broader gauge of banking stocks, rose nearly 20%.
With its capital well above regulatory requirements and higher retail focus, analyst expect HDFC Bank to deliver strong credit growth going forward. Also higher focus on productivity and digitization along with cost rationalisation is likely to result in better profitability growth, analyst added.
Among the analysts covering the stock, 50 have a ‘buy’ rating, five have a ‘hold’ rating, while one has a ‘sell’, according to the Bloomberg data.
According to Bloomberg Intelligence, HDFC Bank’s increasing concentration of branches in India’s semi-urban and rural areas positions it for higher revenue and profit. About 52% of the bank’s branches were outside major metropolitan and urban centers as of September 2019.
