Positive on select private sector banks; ICICI Bank valuations look attractive: Nitin Jain

In a chat with ET Now, Nitin Jain, CEO, Global Asset & Wealth Management, Edelweiss Financial, shares his view on banking stocks.

ET Now: What is your view on stocks of private banks? What is it that you have been advising people to do?

Nitin Jain: What happened to stocks on Monday was more of a reaction to the Greece saga. The volatility in the markets will continue not only for the next week, but for a couple of months.

Having said that, some of private lenders, such as ICICI Bank, are now trading at very attractive valuations banks. They are now trading at around 1.4-1.5 times forward 12-month book. Even banks like HDFC Bank, on price-to-earnings basis, have gone down to 19 to 20 times. That is, by no stretch of imagination, is expensive.

So, while we are advising caution at this point, we believe one should accumulate some of these high quality banks, whenever deep cuts happen.