Indian PSU banks post market cap declines in January-March quarter

Indian Overseas Bank posted a 24.7 per cent quarter-over-quarter fall in its market cap to Rs 736.63 billion. Central Bank of India shed 19.8 per cent, S&P Global Market Intelligence data showed.

HDFC Bank retained its position as the biggest Indian bank, growing its market cap by 3.2 per cent quarter-over-quarter to Rs 13.989 trillion. Market capitalisation or market cap is the total value of a company's stock, derived at by multiplying the stock price by the number of its outstanding shares.

Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd posted the biggest improvement in its market cap, gaining 21.6 per cent to Rs 4.317 trillion.

Further, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, ICICI Bank Ltd. and Axis Bank were among the top five in the market cap ranking. ICICI Bank's market cap increased 5.3 per cent to Rs 9.529 trillion and Axis Bank's was up 3.5 per cent to Rs 3.412 trillion.

IndusInd Bank Ltd posted the highest decline in market cap overall. The private-sector bank posted a 32.3 per cent quarter-over-quarter decline in its market cap to Rs 506.27 billion.

State Bank of India, the country's biggest bank by assets, was the third-largest lender by market cap even as its capitalization fell 2.9 per cent over the quarter to Rs 6.660 trillion. Three public sector banks - Union Bank of India, Indian Bank and Bank of India Ltd. - posted gains in their market cap during the first quarter, S&P Global Market Intelligence data showed.

The decline in the banks' market cap could perhaps be linked with the slump in the benchmark indices over the past few months. Banking stocks have the highest weightage in the key Indian indices.

Benchmark Sensex is over 10,000 points below its all-time peak touched in September of last year. Relative low GDP growth forecasts, weak corporate earnings, foreign fund outflows, and lately, the tariff war have dampened the market participants' sentiment. (ANI)