SBI on a roll, m-cap crosses Rs 5 lakh crore

Mumbai: The market capitalisation of State Bank of India, the country's biggest lender, crossed ₹5 lakh crore on Wednesday for the first time ever. SBI shares, which gained 2.3% on Wednesday to hit an all-time high of ₹574.75, had a market value of ₹5.10 lakh crore.

SBI is the third bank in the country to cross ₹5 lakh crore in market value. The other two banks are HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, which command a market cap of ₹8.51 lakh crore and ₹6.39 lakh crore, respectively.

Shares of the public sector lender gained 188% in the last two years, surpassing the market value of blue chips such as HDFC, Bharti Airtel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ITC, HCL Technologies, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Finance, and Asian Paints to become the seventh most-valued company in India.


ICICI Bank shares surged 152% in the last two years.

'Asset, Liability Mkt Share Protected'
Axis Bank, Kotak Bank, and HDFC Bank have gained 82.3%, 49.8%, and 44.5%, respectively. SBI's core fundamentals continue to be on a strong footing, and improvement in systemic growth should drive incremental re-rating for the stock, said analysts.

"SBI has protected its asset/liability market share over last five years, and with increasing signs of stronger corporate credit demand emerging, we see it as one of the best-placed banks to ride the upturn," said Sameer Bhise, analyst, JM Financial. "SBI is currently trading at 1.2 x one-year P/B for the core banking business. We see a greater probability of the bank trading closer to 1 standard deviation above its long-term valuation average as seen in FY11-13."