ICICIBANK

Dec 31 (Reuters) - ICICI Bank Ltd ICBK.NS:

• GETS GST DEMAND OF 160.3 MILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nBSE9xhnhn

Further company coverage: ICBK.NS

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Adds details from paragraph 5

By Vivek Kumar M

Dec 16 (Reuters) - ICICI Prudential Asset Management IICL.NS received bids worth 3 trillion rupees ($33 billion) for its IPO, making it the fourth most subscribed IPO in India.

The $1.2 billion share sale that closed on Tuesday saw the highest bids after IPOs by Reliance Power RPOL.NS in 2007, LG Electronics India LGEL.NS this year, and Bajaj Housing Finance BAJO.NS in 2024.

The share sale by the country's second-largest asset manager sets the stage for India to notch a record year of fundraising. Companies that have hit the market this year include financial firms such as Groww BILO.NS, HDB Financial Services HDBF.NS and Tata Capital TATC.NS.

"The strong pedigree that ICICI Prudential AMC enjoys and the robust outlook for mutual fund industry in India makes this an attractive bet for investors," said Kranthi Bathini, director - equity strategy at WealthMills Securities.

The firm is a joint venture between ICICI Bank ICBK.NS, India's second-largest private lender, and British insurer Prudential PRU.L. The IPO was an offer for sale by Prudential. The firm managed more than 10 trillion rupees ($110 billion) of assets, with a 13.2% share of the market, as of September-end.

Institutional investors led the bids at the IPO with the portion set aside for them subscribed about 124 times.

Ahead of the share sale, Prudential sold a 4.5% stake in the asset manager for about $545 million to marquee investors like Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and the family offices of Azim Premji and Rakesh Jhunjhunwala.

The shares set aside for non-institutional and retail investors were subscribed 22 times and 2.5 times, respectively. The portion set aside for ICICI Bank's shareholders was subscribed 9.8 times.

The shares are expected to start trading on Friday.

($1 = 90.9210 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)

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The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

By Shritama Bose

MUMBAI, Oct 28 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Blackstone BX.N is the newest entrant to a fundraising party at India’s small lenders. The U.S. private equity group is paying roughly 62 billion rupees ( $705 million) for warrants that would amount to a 9.99% stake in Federal Bank FED.NS. It's a bold call that the mid-tier financial institution can punch well above its weight.

In setting itself up as the single largest shareholder of the bank in India's wealthy Kerala state, Blackstone is backing the vision of new-ish CEO, KVS Manian, who wants to turn Federal into a top-five private sector operator. That would repeat the success of $48 billion Kotak Mahindra Bank KTKM.NS, where Manian spent three decades and led their corporate business. He was once a candidate to succeed Uday Kotak as CEO but was ultimately passed over in 2023.

It’s an opportune moment for Blackstone to put its dream of owning a bank into action. The Reserve Bank of India is relaxing its high barriers to foreign ownership of private lenders: it allowed Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation 8316.T to acquire a 20% stake in Yes Bank YESB.NS in May and it looks set to clear Dubai-based Emirates NBD's ENBD.DU $3 billion bid for a controlling stake in RBL Bank. There are two issues, however.

The first is that Blackstone is starting from a weak position. It will only hold a minority stake. It may want to increase that shareholding but there is no outlined plan or timeline for that to happen and it will depend on the regulator's blessing. The U.S. group has generated a stunning 41% net internal rate of return on its current Asia private equity fund with the support of a largely control-oriented strategy in India. For now, though, its fortunes are largely in Manian's hands.

The second is that breaking into India's hypercompetitive banking big league looks easier said than done these days. The Blackstone deal will give the bank capital to expand nationally via acquisitions, and there are potential synergies from cross-selling products from its portfolio company ASK Asset & Wealth Management to Federal's customers. But top lenders State Bank of India SBI.NS, HDFC Bank HDBK.NS and ICICI Bank ICBK.NS have a strong grip over mortgages and lucrative salary accounts. Throw in other freshly capitalised rivals, and competition for quality customers looks certain to ramp up fast.

At least Blackstone is only paying a small 7% premium to Federal's undisturbed share price for the chance to live out its banking dream.

Follow Shritama Bose on LinkedIn and X.

CONTEXT NEWS

The board of India's Federal Bank on October 24 approved a plan to raise up to 62 billion rupees via a preferential issue of warrants to funds managed by Blackstone. The warrants will convert into shares at a price of 227 rupees per share. When fully converted, the issue will buy the U.S. asset manager a 9.99% stake, making it the bank's largest shareholder.

(Editing by Una Galani; Production by Aditya Srivastav)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on BOSE/[email protected]))

Oct 14 (Reuters) - India's ICICI Prudential Life Insurance ICIR.NS reported a quarterly profit rise on Tuesday, as it benefited from an increased push into non-market-linked products and lower expenses.

Shares of the company rose as much as 3% after the results and were last up 1.3% against a 0.2% drop in the benchmark Nifty 50 .NSEI.

Life insurers in the world's most populous country have been focusing on diversifying their product mix as volatile equity markets and uncertain macroeconomic conditions dampen demand for market-linked insurance.

While demand for these has recovered in recent months amid a recovery in the equity markets, insurers have been pushing more traditional, non-linked products that offer higher margins.

For ICICI Prudential Life, non-linked products made up 21.8% of the product mix at the end of September from 18.1% a year earlier.

Contributions from market-linked products fell to 48.1% as of September-end from 51.6% a year earlier.

Its net premium income rose 10% year-over-year to 118.43 billion rupees ($1.33 billion) during the quarter, pushing its standalone profit up by 19% to 2.99 billion rupees.

Operating expenses declined 17% on lower advertising and employee-related costs.

Its value of new business for the quarter rose to 5.92 billion rupees from 5.86 billion rupees a year earlier, as per Reuters' calculation.

The value of new business margin for the half year ended September 30 was at 24.5%, up from 23.7% a year earlier.

However, the annualised premium equivalent, a key gauge of new business for insurers, stood at 24.22 billion rupees, down from 25.04 billion rupees a year earlier.

Listed peers SBI Life Insurance SBIL.NS and HDFC Life Insurance HDFL.NS have yet to report their second quarter results.

($1 = 88.7860 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Abhirami G in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)

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Sept 17 (Reuters) - ICICI Bank Ltd ICBK.NS:

• GETS TAX ORDER RAISING DEMAND OF 491.2 MILLION RUPEES

Further company coverage: ICBK.NS

(([email protected];;))

Sept 12 (Reuters) - ICICI Bank Ltd ICBK.NS:

• ICICI BANK LTD - RBI APPROVES ICICI BANK TO PURCHASE ADDITIONAL 2% SHAREHOLDING

• ICICI BANK - RBI GIVES APPROVAL TO CO FOR PURCHASE OF ADDITIONAL 2% SHAREHOLDING IN ICICI PRUDENTIAL ASSET MANAGEMENT COMPANY

Source text: ID:nBSE5jJqQS

Further company coverage: ICBK.NS

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Updates with more details in paragraphs 3 & 5

MUMBAI, Aug 5 (Reuters) - The head of treasury at India's ICICI Bank ICBK.NS will move to the private lender's securities arm, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

B. Prasanna, who has headed the bank's treasury for nearly nine years, will move as head of corporate finance and investment banking at unlisted unit ICICI Securities, the sources said.

Prasanna will report to ICICI Securities chief executive T.K. Srirang, one of the sources said.

He will be replaced by Shailendra Jhingan, who currently heads ICICI Securities Primary Dealership, the sources said.

Anubhuti Sanghai, currently head of transaction banking at ICICI Bank and non-executive director at the primary dealership, will take over from Jhingan, the sources added.

ICICI Bank did not immediately respond to a Reuters query on the moves.

In a stock exchange notice earlier in the day, the bank said that Prasanna will cease to be a senior management personnel at the bank due to a transfer within the group, without sharing details.

(Reporting by Ira Dugal; Editing by Varun H K and Shailesh Kuber)

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The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own. Updates to add graphic.

By Shritama Bose

MUMBAI, July 22 (Reuters Breakingviews) - State Bank of India SBI.NS looks like it's about to become a more frequent capital raiser. This week the country's largest lender, which is 57%-owned by New Delhi, sold 250 billion rupees ($2.9 billion) worth of shares. The rationale was to increase its equity ratios. Yet, even though the deal is India's largest-ever secondary stock placement to institutions, it hardly moves the needle. Ideally, a company wanting to bolster its balance sheet would trim dividends first. But the government wants state-run companies to bump up these payments by 25%.

Oddly, the bank doesn't appear to need to increase its capital. At 10.8%, its common equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio is above the regulatory minimum of 8.8%. SBI Chair C.S. Setty said in May the bank has enough "firepower" as it stands to grow its loan book by up to 8 trillion rupees ($93 billion), or 19%.

The issue seems to be that SBI's CET1 ratio is below the 14% average for the Indian banking sector and even further behind the 16% and 18% buffers at privately held peers ICICI Bank ICBK.NS and HDFC Bank HDBK.NS. Since both those rivals trade at higher multiples to book than SBI, there's some logic to wanting to catch up.

The share sale doesn't get it very far, though. SBI has some $421 billion of risk-weighted assets, so the extra $2.9 billion only takes its CET1 ratio to 11.5%.

The additional capital has another effect of reducing the lender's return on equity: apply it to the most recent financial year, and the 17% ROE, per LSEG, would drop by just under a percentage point. That would, on paper, still leave it besting HDFC's 14% showing and lagging ICICI's 18%. But both are cranking out those numbers with much higher capital. Moreover, SBI's ROE is looking harder to sustain with bank credit growing at just over 9%, its slowest pace in three years.

Perhaps Setty and his executives are comfortable with only slightly narrowing its capital gap to peers. Assuming they're not, they have two options: sell more shares or sell more assets. Earlier this year, for example, SBI offloaded a 13% stake in Yes Bank YESB.NS to Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group 8316.T. The lender could follow that up with peddling its remaining 11% chunk in Yes, or selling or listing its general insurer and its asset management subsidiary.

That'll keep SBI and its bankers busy for a while.

Follow Shritama Bose on LinkedIn and X.

CONTEXT NEWS

State Bank of India on July 21 said it had completed a sale of shares worth 250 billion rupees ($2.89 billion) to institutional investors. Books were covered 4.5 times, and foreign long-term investors bought 24% of the float, the lender said.

SBI priced the issue at 817 rupees per share, a 1.8% discount to the closing price of 831.70 rupees on July 16, IFR reported on July 18, citing unnamed people with knowledge of the transaction.

Demand for the transaction was led by domestic institutions, with state-backed Life Insurance Corporation of India committing 80 billion rupees, per IFR. Nomura, Marshall Wace, Millennium, HDFC Mutual Fund, Quant Mutual Fund and ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund also participated in the issue, the report added.

(Editing by Antony Currie; Production by Ujjaini Dutta)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on BOSE/[email protected]))

July 21 (Reuters) - Shares of HDFC Bank HDBK.NS and ICICI Bank ICBK.NS, India's top private lenders by market capitalisation, rose nearly 2% on Monday, after their quarterly results inspired confidence about their ability to maintain healthy loan growth.

The stocks, among the heaviest on the Nifty 50, drove the banks index .NSEBANK and private banks index .NIFPVTBNK higher by 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively.

India's benchmark Nifty 50 .NSEI index was trading flat.

Both the lenders reported on Saturday their June quarter profits that beat analysts estimates, as they benefited from healthy loan growth, which boosted core lending income.

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]; 8800437922;))

July 9 (Reuters) - ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company IICL.NS, India's second-largest mutual fund manager by assets, has filed for an IPO comprising an offer for sale of up to 17.7 million shares, draft papers filed late on Tuesday showed.

The firm is a joint venture between Indian private lender ICICI Bank ICBK.NS, which holds a 51% stake, and British insurer Prudential PRU.L, which owns the remaining 49%.

The IPO will consist of an offer for sale of up to 10% of ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company's equity share capital by Prudential Corporation Holdings Limited (PCHL), a subsidiary of Prudential.

Separately, Prudential said PCHL has entered an agreement with ICICI Bank to sell up to 2% of the asset manager's stake to ICICI ahead of the IPO.

In February, Prudential had said it was considering listing its Indian joint venture.

In June, Bloomberg News reported that the company was close to filing draft papers for a proposed IPO that may fetch as much as $1.2 billion.

ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company's profit for the year ended March 31, 2025 was up 29.3% as income from fees and commission rose 38.7%.

The increase in fees and commission was primarily due to an increase in total annual average assets under management to

9.01 trillion rupees ($105.08 billion) compared to 6.46 trillion rupees in the previous year, it said in the draft papers.

Morgan Stanley India, Axis Capital, BofA Securities India, Citigroup Global Markets India are among the book running lead managers of the offering.

($1 = 85.7440 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Meenakshi Maidas and Chandini Monnappa in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)

(([email protected]; +91 8921483410;))

June 27 (Reuters) - ICICI Bank Ltd ICBK.NS:

• ICICI BANK - ACQUISITION OF ADDITIONAL STAKE IN ICICI PRUDENTIAL ASSET MANAGEMENT COMPANY

• ICICI BANK LTD - APPROVES PURCHASE OF UP TO 2.0% ADDITIONAL SHAREHOLDING

Source text: ID:nBSE18jl0T

Further company coverage: ICBK.NS

(([email protected];;))

MUMBAI, June 25 (Reuters) - India's ICICI Bank ICBK.NS plans to raise 10 billion rupees ($116.30 million), which includes a greenshoe option of 5 billion rupees, through the sale of Basel III compliant tier II bonds maturing in 15 years, three merchant bankers said on Wednesday.

The private sector lender has invited coupon and commitment bids from bankers and investors on Thursday, they said.

The bonds will have a call option at the end of 10 years.

The bank did not reply to a Reuters email seeking comment.

Here is the list of deals reported so far on June 25:

*Size includes base plus greenshoe for some issues

($1 = 85.9820 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia; Editing by Eileen Soreng)

(([email protected]))

June 12 (Reuters) - ICICI Bank Ltd ICBK.NS:

• ICICI BANK LTD - RBI APPROVES RE-APPOINTMENT OF RAKESH JHA AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Source text: ID:nBSE5zlgdl

Further company coverage: ICBK.NS

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The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

By Shritama Bose

MUMBAI, May 12 (Reuters Breakingviews) - India's top lender is nearing the close of a five-year-long saga. The banking unit of Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group 8316.T on Friday agreed to buy a 20% stake in Yes Bank YESB.NS for $1.6 bln from State Bank of India SBI.NS and its peers. It's the largest cross-border deal in the country's banking sector, showcases the success of the target's 2020 bailout and is a timely fillip for SBI itself.

Yes, currently India's sixth-largest private bank by assets, went into administration in March 2020. Authorities stitched together a $1.4 billion combined infusion led by SBI, with seven other institutions, including HDFC HDBK.NS and ICICI Bank ICBK.NS, joining.

State-backed SBI's ownership of around a quarter of its shares helped Yes Bank regain credibility. It has turned profitable, boasts a common equity Tier 1 capital ratio higher than its biggest investor's and has slashed the bad loan ratio to one-tenth of where it stood five years ago.

That makes it enticing for the Japanese banking giant. The deal allows it to deepen its foray into Indian financial services, a year since it became the sole owner of shadow lender SMFG India Credit. It also gives Sumitomo a slice of a bank poised to deliver nearly twice its own return on assets two years hence, using the mean of analyst estimates compiled by LSEG.

The deal is a good one for the sellers, too. Between them, they're offloading more than half of their combined stake at a valuation that's almost three times what they invested.

That's a nice little fillip for SBI, which is selling just over 13% of Yes and retaining almost 11%. India's top lender needs to shore up its own common equity buffer, which at 11% of risk-weighted assets lags rival HDFC Bank's 17%. That leaves a narrow buffer over the 8.8% regulatory minimum that kicked in last month and necessitates a top-up.

Core to SBI's plan is a sale of up to $2.95 billion in shares in the next few months. Combined with proceeds from the Yes transaction, that would add less than a percentage point to its capital ratio. Chances are, SBI will add more by listing its asset management and general insurance units.

Sure, Yes Bank barely moves the needle on its own, but it's always helpful to kick off on the right foot.

Follow @ShritamaBose on X

CONTEXT NEWS

Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation has reached an agreement with the State Bank of India and seven other financial institutions to acquire a 20% stake in Yes Bank, SMBC and Yes said in separate statements on May 9. At $1.58 billion, the transaction will mark the largest cross-border investment in India's banking sector.

SBI will sell 13.2% and other shareholders including HDFC Bank will offload a combined 6.8% stake in Yes Bank. The government-backed lender will own just over 10% of Yes after the transaction closes.

(Editing by Antony Currie and Ujjaini Dutta)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on BOSE/
[email protected]))

Recasts, updates with commentary from management

By Nishit Navin and Siddhi Nayak

BENGALURU/MUMBAI April 24 (Reuters) - Indian private lender Axis Bank AXBK.NS on Thursday beat fourth-quarter profit estimates and expressed confidence about its retail loan growth improving in the upcoming quarters.

The bank's loans grew 8% in the quarter ended March from a year ago, with retail loans expanding 7%.

Peers such as ICICI Bank reported a 14% loan growth for the same period.

Tighter guardrails by India's central bank and increased delinquencies on unsecured loans had led lenders to slow down credit growth in this segment.

"The actions that we took in terms of the credit tightening are actually giving us good results on the unsecured (retail) portfolio," said Arjun Chowdhry, an executive at Axis Bank.

"On the secured portfolio, we continue to hold up very well."

Axis Bank is "quite comfortable" with the retail loan growth forecast going into the next couple of quarters, even as corporate loan growth will be "muted" on tariff-related uncertainty, it said, without divulging specific targets.

The bank reported standalone quarterly net profit of 71.18 billion rupees ($834.7 million). Analysts on average had expected profit of 66.6 billion rupees, according to LSEG-compiled data.

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned on loans and paid on deposits, rose 6% to 138.11 billion rupees.

Net interest margin was at 3.97%, compared with 4.06% a year ago and 3.93% in the previous quarter.

Even though the cost of deposits has started trending downwards following two rate cuts by the central bank, there is "still some way to go," CEO Amitabh Chaudhry said.

Axis Bank's gross non-performing assets ratio - bad loans as a percentage of total loans, a key gauge of lenders' asset quality - was at 1.28% at March-end, down from 1.46% in the earlier quarter.

Provisions and contingencies, or funds kept aside for potential bad loans, rose 14% to 13.59 billion rupees from a year, but fell 37% from the previous quarter.

($1 = 85.2720 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Nishit Navin in Bengaluru and Siddhi Nayak in Mumbai; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Shreya Biswas)

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MUMBAI, April 22 (Reuters) - India's ICICI Home Finance ICICH.UL has accepted bids worth an aggregate of 7 billion rupees ($82 million) for bonds maturing in two years and two months, and in three years and three months, three bankers said on Tuesday.

The company will pay an annual coupon of 7.3108% and 7.3388% on these issues, respectively, and had invited bids from bankers and investors earlier in the day, they said.

The company did not immediately reply to a Reuters email seeking comment.

Here is the list of deals reported so far on April 22:

*Size includes base plus greenshoe for some issues

($1 = 85.1540 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia and Khushi Malhotra; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)

(([email protected]))

April 21 (Reuters) - India's top private lenders ICICI Bank ICBK.NS and HDFC Bank HDBK.NS rose nearly 2% each to hit record highs on Monday, after their fourth-quarter results inspired confidence in the companies' ability to deliver strong loan growth and maintain healthy asset quality.

Both lenders reported quarterly results above analyst estimates on Saturday, driven by sustained loan growth and improving asset quality.

The two banks are Jefferies' top picks in the sector, with analysts highlighting their ability to expand lending margins while maintaining credit costs.

($1 = 85.1420 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon and Ashish Chandra in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)

(([email protected]; +91 7982114624;))

MUMBAI, April 19 (Reuters) - ICICI Bank ICBK.NS, India's second-largest private lender by assets, reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Saturday, helped by healthy loan growth and net interest income.

The bank's standalone net profit rose 18% to a record 126.30 billion rupees ($1.48 billion) in the January-March quarter, above the average analyst forecast of 118.16 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG.

ICICI Bank's total loans rose 13.9% from the same period a year earlier, led by strong retail demand, while deposits grew by 14%.

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned on loans and paid on deposits, increased by 11% to 211.93 billion rupees.

In a falling interest rate scenario, lenders typically pass on the rate cuts to borrowers, making loans more attractive, but the pass-through to deposit rates comes with a lag, temporarily compressing margins until the adjustment is fully reflected across both sides of the balance sheet.

ICICI Bank's net interest margin, a key gauge of profitability, was 4.41%, from 4.40% a year earlier and 4.25% in the previous quarter.

Asset quality improved, with the gross non-performing assets (NPA) ratio at 1.67% at the end of March, versus 1.96% three months earlier.

Shares of ICICI Bank closed 3.7% higher ahead of the results on Thursday.

($1 = 85.4290 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Siddhi Nayak; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

(([email protected]; x.com/siddhiVnayak;))

** India's Nifty 50 .NSEI and Sensex .BSESN rebound from early losses to rise more than 1% amid sustained buying in financials

** HDFC Bank HDBK.NS and ICICI Bank ICBK.NS jump 1.7% and 2.6%, respectively, to hit record highs ahead of earnings over the weekend

** Financials .NIFTYFIN rise 1.7% on the day and 7.5% in four sessions on strong growth prospects

** Wipro WIPR.NS down 4.6% after missing Q4 revenue expectation and forecasting sales decline in ongoing quarter

** Information technology .NIFTYIT index down 0.7%, sole loser among major sectors

** Broader mid- .NIFMDCP100 and small-caps .NIFSMCP100 up around 0.5% each

** Waaree Renewable Technologies WAAE.NS up 9% on surge in Q4 earnings

(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M)

(([email protected]))

April 15 (Reuters) - India's ICICI Prudential Life Insurance ICIR.NS on Tuesday reported a surge in fourth-quarter profit, helped by strong demand for its group insurance offerings.

The insurer's standalone profit more than doubled to 3.86 billion rupees ($45 million) for the quarter ended March 31. Its quarterly net premium income grew 11% to 16.37 billion rupees, driven by a 30% jump in single premiums.

Demand for its market or unit-linked insurance plans (ULIP) dropped during the fourth quarter as India's stock markets underwent a sharp correction.

In the previous quarters, demand for ULIPs rose consistently as the stock markets traded at record high levels.

However, analysts pointed out that a rise in the demand for group insurance plans during the January-March quarter has boosted premium income for ICICI Prudential.

Group insurance policies cover multiple people in the same plan and are generally taken by companies to provide coverage for employees.

ICICI Prudential's value of new business (VNB), or expected profit from new policies, rose 2.5% to 7.95 billion rupees for the quarter, according to Reuters calculations.

However, the insurer's annualised premium equivalent (APE) sales, which is the total value of all single- and recurring-premium policies, fell 3.1% to 35.02 billion rupees during the quarter due to the drop in the sales of ULIPs.

Meanwhile, ICICI Prudential's VNB margins for the full year deteriorated to 22.8% from 24.6% a year ago.

ULIPs accounted for 48.3% of the company's overall product mix, down from 50.8% a year earlier.

Peer HDFC Life HDFL.NS will report its quarterly results later this week, while SBI Life Insurance SBIL.NS is scheduled to post its earnings next week.

($1 = 85.7230 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)

(([email protected]; 8800437922;))

April 11 (Reuters) - ICICI Bank Ltd ICBK.NS:

• ICICI BANK - TO CONSIDER FUND RAISING

• ICICI BANK LTD - BOARD TO CONSIDER FUND RAISING AND DEBT BUYBACK ON APRIL 19

• ICICI BANK - TO CONSIDER FUND RAISING BY WAY OF ISSUANCE OF DEBT SECURITIES

Source text: ID:nBSE2ldlNh

Further company coverage: ICBK.NS

(([email protected];))

** HSBC identifies five Indian stocks — Reliance Industries RELI.NS, ICICI Bank ICBK.NS, TVS Motor TVSM.NS, Shriram Finance SHMF.NS, and Adani Ports APSE.NS — as its top picks offering profit visibility

** Says, impact of U.S. tariffs on Indian markets likely limited on lower or limited domestic macro risks, lower export dependence to U.S. compared to other Asian peers

** However, does not expect a strong earnings rebound in FY26 as it sees capex yet to pick up, urban consumption remaining soft

** Expects Reliance to benefit from retail turnaround, digital growth, new energy momentum

** ICICI Bank offers strong growth with stable asset quality; TVS could gain from rural demand recovery

** Shriram Finance stands out for its superior asset quality; Adani Ports is a proxy for India's trade and infra growth, says HSBC

** On the day, TVSM rises 1.4%, RELI and ICBK edge up

** SHMF falls 2.1%, APSE slips 0.3%

** Benchmark Nifty 50 index .NSEI drops 0.6%

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]; +91 9769003463;))

By Bharath Rajeswaran

March 28 (Reuters) - Shares of India's financial services sector companies recovered in March, leading the benchmark Nifty 50 index's comeback from a historic downturn and setting the stage for a robust fiscal year 2026.

With the Reserve Bank of India's interest rate cuts looming, credit growth surging, and foreign inflows returning, financials are once again the market's hottest bet.

Potential rate cuts and liquidity injection by the central bank are likely to improve the overall credit and deposit environment and earnings for banks in FY2026, Anand Rathi Research's analyst Kaitav Shah said.

Financials .NIFTYFIN, accounting for 37% weight in the Nifty 50 .NSEI, jumped about 9% in March after three straight monthly losses. It helped the NSE benchmark index reverse losses in the fiscal year, after about $1 trillion in investor wealth was wiped out during a downturn in the second half. The Nifty 50 had touched a record high in September.

In FY2025, financials gained nearly 20% and banks .NSEBANK rose 9%, outperforming the Nifty 50's 5% rise.

The sector has also benefited from foreign inflows returning in March after sustained selling.

Still, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have offloaded Indian shares worth a record $26 billion since October, marking the highest outflows in a six-month period, pushing benchmark indexes into a correction territory in November and the broader markets into a bear market last month.

BANKING AND FINANCE GAINS TO CONTINUE

For FY2026, the banking sector is expected to remain strong, with projected credit growth of 12-13% on strong services and retail demand.

"Since banking is the ideal proxy to economic growth, it should see better credit and deposit growth in FY2026," said Mayuresh Joshi of financial services firm William O'Neil and Company.

BNP Paribas analyst Santanu Chakrabarti echoed Joshi's sentiment. "Besides liquidity infusion, changes in non-bank lenders' risk weights, relaxed priority sector lending norms, and reduced foreign selling pressure keep our bullish FY2026 outlook intact."

The RBI is widely expected to cut rates by 25 basis points in April and again in August, easing funding costs and supporting credit expansion.

Despite FPIs selling financial stocks worth $6.7 billion in FY2025, roughly 41% of total outflows, the sector ended the year higher on attractive valuations.

The Nifty financial services index trades at a 12-month forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 20x, below the 10-month average of 20.6x, suggesting undervaluation which could lead to further investments.

($1 = 85.5850 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)

(([email protected]; +91 9769003463;))

** India's benchmarks off day's highs; Nifty 50 .NSEI up 0.1%, BSE Sensex .BSESN flat

** Both rose as much as 1% earlier, adding to 5.6% gains in last six sessions

** Gains in Nifty heavyweight HDFC Bank HDBK.NS and IT .NIFTYIT offset by ICICI Bank ICBK.NS and energy stocks .NIFTYENR

** HDFC Bank jumps over 2% as lender seen as key beneficiary of RBI's revised regulations for priority sector lending

** IT index up 1.5% as President Donald Trump indicates not all U.S. trading partners will be hit with tariffs on April 2

** ICICI down 2%, snapping six sessions of gains

** Reliance Industries RELI.NS down 1%, while Oil India OILI.NS falls 3% as Trump threatens tariffs on countries importing Venezuelean oil and gas

** Broader mid .NIFMDCP100 and smallcaps .NIFSMCP100 down 1.1% and 1.6%, respectively, on profit booking after six sessions of gains, according to analysts

(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M)

(([email protected];))

** Shares of ICICI Bank ICBK.NS rise 2.2% to 1,373 rupees apiece

** Private lender second biggest contributor to benchmark Nifty 50's .NSEI 1.1% rise on the day

** Citi Research says ICBK's net interest margins could see a 20-25 basis points positive impact from a potential 50 basis point rate cut in FY2026

** Positive NIM bias also aided by cash reverse ratio cut in February - Citi

** Adds ICBK's unsecured stress will stabilise and loan growth will sustain in fourth quarter fiscal year 2025

** Citi sees credit cost normalization from FY2026

** Reiterates "buy" on ICBK and maintains a price target of 1,600 rupees, implying an upside of about 19%

** ICBK shares are up 6.6% in 2025 so far, outperforming the 1.5% rise in bank index .NSEBANK and 0.1% drop in Nifty 50

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]; +91 9769003463;))

** ICICI Bank ICBK.NS gains 7.1% this week; set for biggest intraday pct gain since July 2022

** Stock up 1.6% on the day to three-month high of 1,343.35

** IIFL says co will see $426.9 mln inflows on the day from weight increases by FTSE, MSCI and BSE

** Large inflows due to merger between with ICICI Securities ICCI.NS, whose shares will trade for the last time on Friday

** Bargain hunting in bank stocks during the week also boosted ICBK

** Stock among top BFSI sector picks of Motilal Oswal Financial Services

** Brokerage says private banks better positioned for out-performance given reasonable valuation and improving earnings trajectory from H2 FY26

** ICBK up 5% YTD

(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M)

(([email protected];))

March 4 (Reuters) -

• PRUDENTIAL IS SAID TO SEEK $12 BILLION VALUE ON INDIA JV LISTING - BLOOMBERG NEWS

• PRUDENTIAL CONSIDERING SEEKING A VALUATION OF ABOUT $12 BILLION FOR ICICI PRUDENTIAL ASSET MANAGEMENT IN A POTENTIAL IPO OF INDIAN UNIT - BLOOMBERG NEWS

Source text: https://tinyurl.com/mvea2a3r

Further company coverage: ICBK.NS

(([email protected];))