Bajaj Finance Ltd on Monday replaced State Bank of India to become India’s tenth most-valued firm by market capitalisation on the BSE.
According to the BSE, Bajaj Finance’s market capitalization stood at ₹2.87 trillion, with its shares trading at ₹4,773.85 on the BSE. The finance company’s shares have risen nearly 12% so far this year.
State Bank of India has a market cap of ₹2.81 trillion. Currently, Reliance Industries Ltd is the country’s most valued company with a market cap of ₹9.48 trillion, followed by Tata Consultancy Services Ltd ( ₹8.26 trillion) and HDFC Bank Ltd ( ₹6.73 trillion).
Hindustan Unilever Ltd is number four ( ₹4.95 trillion), followed by HDFC Ltd ( ₹4.12 trillion),Infosys Ltd( ₹3.36 trillion), ICICI Bank Ltd ( ₹3.50 trillion), Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd ( ₹3.23 trillion), and Bharti Airtel Ltd ( ₹3.07 trillion).
Analysts gave a thumbs-up to the finance company’s portfolio granularity strategy across products and geographic locations and its capacity to absorb higher provisions. They believe the firm will continue on its high double-digit growth trajectory.
“Overall, we remain optimistic about BFL’s growth prospects on both topline and earnings front supported by a wide and strong customer franchise (40.38 mn customer base; 65-70% of new loans generated from existing customers), unique market positioning in India with an expanding retail franchise and distribution reach, a well capitalized balance sheet, and sound ROE profile (>20%)” said KR Choksey in a report.
Investor sentiment was also hit after recent December quarter earnings of SBI showed a sharp rise in slippages. The lender reported slippages of ₹16,525 crore versus ₹8,800 crore in the second quarter led by non-performing asset recognition of housing finance account. Corporate slippage came in higher at ₹9,467 crore against ₹3,239 crore quarter on quarter.
