ICICI Bank

By Dharamraj Dhutia

MUMBAI, July 3 (Reuters) - India's ICICI Bank ICBK.NS plans its first dollar bond sale in nearly nine years, joining peers HDFC Bank and Axis Bank in leveraging the central bank's lower-cost hedging facility for foreign-currency issuance, two bankers said on Friday.

The lender is expected to raise at least $500 million through a likely five-year bond issue, according to the bankers familiar with the matter.

However, the issuance is unlikely before the second half of August, as ICICI Bank is awaiting its quarterly financial results later this month and must complete the renewal of its Global Medium Term Note programme, the bankers said.

"There are plans to tap the dollar bond market, but it may take 45-60 days for the actual issuance to happen as a lot of procedures are still pending," one of the bankers said.

The bankers requested anonymity as they are not authorised to speak to media. ICICI Bank did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

If completed, the transaction would mark ICICI Bank's first dollar bond issuance since December 2017, when it raised $500 million through 10-year bonds at a coupon of 3.80%.

The fundraising comes after the Reserve Bank of India in June introduced a swap facility allowing eligible external commercial borrowings by banks and state-owned companies to be hedged at a fixed rate of 1.5% per annum, compounded semi-annually.

The measure significantly lowers hedging costs, making overseas dollar fundraising more attractive.

HDFC Bank HDBK.NS became the first lender to use the new facility, raising $750 million through five-year bonds in June. Axis Bank AXBK.NS followed with an $800 million dual-tranche dollar bond issue.

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

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June 24 (Reuters) - ICICI Bank Ltd ICBK.NS:

• RESERVE BANK OF INDIA APPROVES ICICI BANK TO PURCHASE UP TO 2% MORE IN ICICI LIFE

Source text: ID:nBSE1GZRYY

Further company coverage: ICBK.NS

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Corrects paragraph 1 to say rates raised by as much as 300 bps, not as much as 350 bps; paragraph 4 to say HDFC hiked rates by 235-265 bps, not 300 bps

By Gopika Gopakumar

MUMBAI, June 10 (Reuters) - Some banks raised rates on foreign currency deposits for non-resident Indians by as much as 300 basis points on Wednesday, seeking to attract dollar inflows after the central bank eased regulatory restrictions last week.

The Reserve Bank of India will bear the ‌full hedging cost for three- to five-year non-resident deposits, it said on Friday, as part of a broader set of measures to encourage overseas flows and stem weakness in the rupee.

The unit is Asia's second-worst-performing currency this year, down 6% so far, and had slipped to record lows in May.

HDFC Bank HDBK.NS, India's largest private sector lender, hiked rates by 235-265 basis points to 6% on three- to five-year deposits.

AU Small Finance Bank AUFI.NS increased rates by 195 bps, offering 7.1% on three-year deposits and 7% on five-year deposits.

Yes Bank YESB.NS has set the rate at 7% on three-year deposits, 7.05% on four-year deposits and 7.10% on five-year deposits, according to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday. A Yes Bank spokesperson did not respond to Reuters' request for comment.

Other banks are expected to announce their new rates this week.

Lenders could raise as much as $35 billion to $40 billion via these foreign currency deposits until September this year, according to a Reuters report. The RBI said it is also open to banks providing guarantees to offshore lenders to lend to NRIs, who can place these borrowed funds as deposits.

The RBI had last launched a concessional forex swap facility for non-resident Indians in 2013 when the ​rupee ⁠had depreciated sharply due to the U.S. Federal Reserve's "taper tantrum". Under that scheme, HDFC Bank mobilised $3.4 billion, followed by ICICI Bank ICBK.NS, SBI SBI.NS and select foreign banks.

(Reporting by Gopika Gopakumar in Mumbai; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

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June 5 (Reuters) - India's ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company IICL.NS said on Friday it has temporarily restricted subscriptions in its gold exchange-traded fund (ETF).

• The company said it will not accept direct subscriptions of more than 250 million rupees ($2.63 million) in the ETF until further notice. It did not mention a reason for the restriction.

• On Thursday, peer HDFC Mutual Fund also restricted lump-sum, or one-time, subscriptions in its gold ETFs, citing market conditions as strong demand for gold amid geopolitical uncertainty drives up inflows into such funds.

• Large inflows can be difficult for gold ETFs to absorb during periods of heavy demand.

• Indian gold ETFs have attracted net inflows of $3.48 billion so far this year.

($1 = 94.9450 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Nishit Navin in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

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May 22 (Reuters) - Indian private lender ICICI Bank ICBK.NS has received approval from India's central bank to reappoint Sandeep Bakhshi as its chief executive for a further period of two years, with effect from October 4, the bank said in a statement on Friday.

• Bakhshi would remain ICICI's CEO until October 3, 2028, the bank said. In January, the bank's board approved Bakhshi's reappointment, subject to approval from the Reserve Bank of India.

• ICICI Bank is India's second-largest private lender by market capitalisation. Bakhshi has led the bank since 2018.

• Last month, the bank posted a standalone net profit of 137.02 billion Indian rupees ($1.43 billion) for the three months to March 31, up from 126.30 billion rupees ​a year earlier.

($1 = 95.6900 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh in Barcelona; Editing by Louise Heavens)

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MUMBAI, May 21 (Reuters) - India's ICICI Home Finance Company [RIC:RIC:ICICH.UL] has accepted bids worth 5.5 billion rupees ($57.17 million) in a sale of bonds maturing in three years, three bankers said on Thursday.

The bonds will carry an initial coupon of 7.25%, with subsequent quarterly resets linked to the three-month Treasury bill yield plus a spread of 193 basis points, they said, adding the company had invited commitment bids for the issue on Wednesday.

ICICI Home Finance did not respond to a Reuters email seeking comment.

Here is the list of deals reported so far on May 19:

*Size includes base plus greenshoe for some issues

($1 = 96.2000 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia and Khushi Malhotra; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

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MUMBAI, May 19 (Reuters) - India's ICICI Home Finance Company ICICH.UL plans to raise up to 6.50 billion rupees ($67.47 million), including a greenshoe option of 1 billion rupees, through a sale of bonds maturing in three years, three bankers said on Tuesday.

It will carry an initial coupon of 7.25%, with subsequent quarterly resets linked to the three-month Treasury bill yield plus a spread of 193 basis points, they said, adding the company has invited commitment bids for the issue on Wednesday.

ICICI Home Finance did not respond to a Reuters email seeking comment.

Here is the list of deals reported so far on May 19:

*Size includes base plus greenshoe for some issues

($1 = 96.3425 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia and Khushi Malhotra; Editing by Eileen Soreng)

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

By Katrina Hamlin

HONG KONG, May 18 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Prudential PRU.L, 2378.HK has a punchy plan to shake up its life insurance business in India: it's buying a controlling stake in Bharti Life Insurance. Tapping its new partner's telco and asset management customers is a risky alternative to the tried-and-tested model of distributing products via a bank but could be an ingenious way to kickstart growth.

The $38 billion group agreed to acquire 75% of Bharti Life from ​Bharti Life Ventures and 360 ONE Asset Management ONEW.NS for $389 million, it said on Sunday.

That means Prudential CEO Anil Wadhwani is doing a switcheroo: the transaction requires Pru to reduce its stake in an existing venture with ICICI Bank ICBK.NS to under 10%, from 22%, per the company. It could well go on to divest what remains, leaving Bharti as its key partner.

The Indian business is in need of a reboot. New business sales there fell 2% last year, and its ranking among private life insurers fell to fifth from third a year earlier. That was a disappointing result for what ought to be a high-growth market. The world’s most populous country has only 3% penetration in the life insurance space, Prudential reckons.

Wadhwani’s solution is a creative one. Insurers often lean on large banks like ICICI to reach potential policy buyers. But the target’s main attraction is Bharti Airtel’s BRTI.NS nearly 300 million smartphone customers in India, compared with ICICI’s roughly 80 million retail banking clients, per data from Bharti and BCG Matrix. Overlapping markets in Africa could also open up other emerging markets, while the telecom company's asset management arm could help Pru reach India’s high net worth individuals.

But making it work could be tough. JioBlackRock, a joint venture between BlackRock BLK.N and Jio Financial Services JIOF.NS, is tapping additional distributors to sell its products after trying a digital direct model that leaned on its connections to Reliance Jio, India’s largest telecoms group.

And while the deal price seems fair, it’s not a bargain, valuing the company at just over $500 million, or around 1.5 times its embedded value as of September. That’s in line with the average for rivals SBI Life Insurance SBIL.NS, HDFC Life Insurance HDFL.NS and the Life Insurance Corporation of India LIFI.NS, per Visible Alpha, and just below 1.6 times for ICICI Prudential Life Insurance ICIR.NS. Shareholders sent Pru’s stock down 2% in morning trade in Hong Kong. That's probably because Wadhwani's punt for better rewards in India comes with higher risks.

Follow Katrina Hamlin on Bluesky and Linkedin.

CONTEXT NEWS

Insurer Prudential said on May 17 that it has agreed to acquire a 75% stake in Bharti Life Insurance from ​Bharti Life Ventures and 360 ONE Asset Management for an initial cash consideration of $389 million, with a potential additional consideration of up to $78 million, subject to certain conditions.

Prudential’s Hong Kong-listed shares fell 2.26% to HK$116.8 in morning trade on May 18.

(Editing by Antony Currie; Production by Ujjaini Dutta)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on HAMLIN/[email protected]; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))

By Dharamraj Dhutia

MUMBAI, May 14 (Reuters) - ICICI Prudential Life Insurance (ICIR.NS), one of India’s largest insurers, is tactically increasing its investments in longer maturity government bonds, a position it aims to dial back by September in anticipation of rate hikes, a senior executive said.

The strategy reflects expectations that relatively lower supply of longer tenor debt will briefly push yields on long bonds lower, before two rate hikes of 25 basis points each by India's central bank kick in between October and March, Arun Srinivasan, chief of fixed income at ICICI Prudential Life said in an interview on Wednesday.

The insurer has increased its debt portfolio's modified duration to roughly six years, making it more sensitive to interest rate changes, in a purely tactical near-term move.

"We maintain a strict mandate to unwind these positions and reduce modified duration below five years by September as concerns on fiscal and inflation start to mount," said Srinivasan, citing structural constraints in global oil refining that have likely established a floor under oil prices, reinforcing inflation risks.

India's retail inflation rose by 3.48% in April. The central bank ​targets retail inflation at 4%, within a tolerance band of 2% ​to 6%.

"The impact of high global oil prices have not yet fully impacted Indian retail inflation," analysts at SBI Research said in a Monday note.

Wholesale prices on the other hand, have spiked on higher energy costs, and economists say the increase is likely to pass through to retail inflation with a lag.

"If inflationary pressures remain stubborn, the RBI will be forced to act in the latter part of the year," said Srinivasan.

India's monetary policy can look through temporary supply shocks but ​may intervene if inflation pressures ‌become entrenched, central bank Governor Sanjay ​Malhotra said on Tuesday.

For now, the insurance firm prefers investing in liquid papers, especially the benchmark 10-year bond, to navigate volatility, while allocating to 15-year and 40-year segments for long-term investments.

India's 10-year benchmark bond yield IN064835G=CC traded around 7.03%, while the 15-year and 40-year bond yields were near 7.33% and 7.68% respectively on Thursday.

Srinivasan expects spreads between the 10-year and 40-year bonds to compress in the first half of the financial year before widening again in the second.

Within corporate debt, the insurer is focused on high-quality five-year papers, alongside exposure to acquisition financing trades and similar higher-yield credit opportunities.

($1 = 95.8163 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia and Gopika Gopakumar; Editing by Ronojoy Mazumdar)

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By Gopika Gopakumar and Jayshree P Upadhyay

MUMBAI, May 6 (Reuters) - Law firms reviewing governance at HDFC Bank HDBK.NS are set to report this month that they have not found any major lapses, two people with direct knowledge of the findings said, clearing the way for the reappointment of its CEO.

India's largest private lender by assets called in Mumbai-based Trilegal and Wadia Ghandy & Co after Atanu Chakraborty resigned as chairman in March citing "incongruence" between his personal values and bank practices. He did not elaborate.

The resignation was followed by a 13.81% drop in the bank's share price, or $16 billion in the stock's value, and prompted a rare statement from the central bank seeking to allay investor and depositor concern about a lender deemed too big to fail.

It also threw into doubt the lender's application at the central bank due May-end to reappoint CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan.

The affair exposed leadership strain at HDFC, a bank majority-owned by foreign institutional investors and which has faced ire over stock that is down 5% since a $40 billion merger with parent HDFC Ltd in 2023. Closest rival ICICI Bank ICBK.NS has risen 33% in that time and the benchmark Nifty 50 is up 24%.

With 120 million customers and just over a tenth of banking deposits, a clean bill of health from the law firms would bring certainty to a bank whose stability is critical to the economy.

The law firms examined minutes and video recordings of board and extraordinary general meetings over the last three years to ascertain whether Chakraborty had raised governance issues and, if so, how those issues were addressed, the people said, declining to be identified as the findings are not public.

All issues raised at board level were handled as per prescribed processes, one of the people said, without elaborating on those issues.

The law firms are likely to hand their report this month to the board, which will then submit it to the central bank, the person said.

The review findings have not been previously reported.

Chakraborty declined to comment on Reuters' texted queries. HDFC Bank, the Reserve Bank of India, Trilegal and Wadia Ghandy & Co did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

BANK SET TO PROPOSE CEO REAPPOINTMENT

The resignation and review had delayed a board decision on whether to recommend Jagdishan for reappointment as CEO after his three-year term ends in October. The central bank approves lenders' CEO appointments.

HDFC Bank will propose Jagdishan for reappointment after the law firms submit their report, the second person said.

The central bank is of the view that there are no issues that could preclude reappointment, said a third person, who is familiar with RBI thinking. If the review tallies, the RBI would have no problem supporting reappointment, the person said.

After Chakraborty resigned, the central bank said that, on the basis of its periodical assessment, "there are no material concerns on record as regards its conduct or governance".

Proxy advisor InGovern Research Advisory Services last month said the resignation was likely driven by individual personality rather than any threat to shareholder value.

(Reporting by Gopika Gopakumar and Jayshree P Upadhyay in Mumbai; Editing by Ira Dugal and Christopher Cushing)

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Mumbai, May 2 (Reuters) - India's Kotak Mahindra Bank KTKM.NS reported a jump in fourth-quarter profit that beat estimates on Saturday, supported by strong loan growth and lower provisions for potential bad loans.

The country's third-largest private lender's standalone net profit rose 13% to 40.27 billion rupees for the quarter ended March 31 from last year. Analysts had expected a profit of 37.37 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Loan demand in India gained momentum in the second half of the fiscal year ended in March ​as easing inflation and lower taxes supported household spending and corporate borrowing.

The lender's net advances expanded 16% in the quarter from a year earlier, mainly driven by retail and corporate loans. Total deposits rose by 15%.

Last month, larger peers HDFC Bank HDBK.NS and ICICI Bank ICBK.NS beat profit views aided by strong loan growth.

Net interest income – the difference between interest earned on loans and interest paid on deposits - rose 8% ​to 78.76 billion rupees.

Provisions and contingencies fell 36% quarter-on-quarter and 43% year-on-year to 5.16 billion rupees.

The lender's gross non-performing asset ratio fell to 1.2% at the end of March, from 1.42% in the year-ago quarter.

(Reporting by Ashwin Manikandan, Jayshree P Upadhyay in Mumbai and Nishit Navin in Bangalore; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair and Peter Graff)

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** Shares of ICICI bank ICBK.NS rise as much as 2.18% to 1,376.40 rupees

** India's second-largest private lender by market cap posted fourth-quarter profit of 137.02 billion rupees ($1.48 billion), 8.5% up y/y

STRONG GROWTH, STABLE ASSET QUALITY

** Jefferies ("buy", PT 1,670 rupees) says credit growth could improve to 15% from fiscal year 2027 on better sector trends, balanced focus on growth and net interest margins; credit costs may rise slightly on normalising recoveries and potential West Asia conflict risks

** JP Morgan ("overweight" PT 1,600) raises FY27–28 forecasts by 0.2% and 0.8%, respectively, on stronger-than-expected growth momentum

** Motilal Oswal ("buy" TP 1,750) expects bank to see gradual re-rating since operating performance holding steady and growth gaining traction; sees FY28 return on assets (RoA) of 2.3% and RoE of 16.2%

** Emkay ("buy", PT 1,785) says bank is well-positioned to deliver 2.1–2.2% RoA over FY27–29, supported by stronger growth, better cost control, and loan loss provisions in check

($1 = 92.7640 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Devika Nair in Bengaluru)

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By Nidhi Verma and Nimesh Vora

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI, April 17 (Reuters) - Indian refiners are settling payments for rare cargoes of Iranian oil purchased under a temporary U.S. sanctions waiver using Chinese yuan through Mumbai-based ICICI Bank ICBK.NS, four sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Last month, Washington unveiled 30-day waivers on U.S. sanctions for the purchase of Russian and Iranian oil at sea in an attempt to ease prices that were driven up by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday said the U.S. would not renew the waivers, with the exemption on Iranian oil set to lapse on Sunday.

Difficulties over arranging payment for such cargoes given longstanding sanctions on Tehran have deterred some would-be buyers of Iranian crude under the waiver, traders have said.

Earlier this month, state-run Indian Oil Corp IOC.NS (IOC), the country's largest refiner, bought 2 million barrels of Iranian oil onboard the very large crude carrier Jaya in the country's first purchase of Iranian crude in seven years, Reuters reported, a cargo worth roughly $200 million.

India has also allowed four vessels carrying Iranian oil to berth for privately-run refiner Reliance Industries RELI.NS, sources said last week. A vessel, the MT Felicity, has discharged thus far, according to LSEG data and a shipping source.

Both refiners are settling the trade through ICICI, which is routing funds in Chinese yuan via its Shanghai branch to seller accounts in yuan. The identity of the sellers could not be determined.

ICICI, IOC, Reliance and India's foreign ministry did not respond to emails seeking comment.

Details on how the cargoes are being paid for have not been previously reported.

NOTICE OF READINESS

IOC paid about 95% of the cargo's value against the supplier's notice of readiness, which indicates that the loaded tanker had entered Indian waters, two of the sources said. One of them said this was an unusual arrangement.

Typically, Indian state-owned refiners settle payments upon delivery or discharge for oil from countries that are sanctioned by Western nations, the two sources said. India has been among the top buyers of Russian oil since Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine resulted in widespread Western sanctions on Russia.

The sources declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

Indian refiners have also used China's currency to settle some of their Russian oil purchases.

IOC does not plan to make further Iranian oil purchases, one of the sources said.

Until the U.S. waiver, India had shunned the purchase of Iranian oil since 2019, under pressure from American sanctions.

Chinese independent refiners, known as teapots, have been the main buyers of Iranian oil exports since then.

(Additional Reporting by Gopika Gopakumar in Mumbai and Saurabh Sharma in New Delhi; Editing by Tony Munroe and Thomas Derpinghaus)

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Rewrites paragraph 1, adds details on motor segment gross premium in paragraph 5, claims paid in paragraph 6

April 15 (Reuters) - India's ICICI Lombard General Insurance ICIL.NS reported a 7% rise in fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday as stronger premiums from its retail health and motor segments cushioned the impact from higher claims payouts.

The insurer's profit after tax rose to 5.47 billion rupees ($58.55 million) for the three months ended March 31, from 5.10 billion rupees a year earlier.

Analysts expected Indian general insurers to post a strong March quarter, driven by growth in the health and motor segments, which have continued to benefit from the government's tax cuts in September.

ICICI Lombard's retail health insurance net premiums income surged 55.6% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, its motor insurance segment - its largest and accounting for nearly half of total premiums - posted a 15% rise in gross direct premiums. Net premiums earned rose 6.24% for the quarter on strong vehicle sales. Auto sales in March alone rose 25% from last year.

The firm, which also offers crop, fire and marine insurance, reported a near 11% rise in total net premiums earned to 57.91 billion rupees, while total claims paid rose 16% year-on-year to 39.25 billion rupees.

The company's combined ratio of expenses to premiums, a key profitability metric for insurance firms, improved to 101.2% from 102.5% a year ago and 104.5% in the previous quarter.

A lower ratio indicates the insurer is retaining more premium incomes relative to claims paid and operating expenses incurred.

($1 = 93.4270 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Devika Nair and Nishit Navin in Bengaluru; Editing by Diti Pujara)

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April 14 (Reuters) - India's ICICI Prudential Life Insurance ICIR.NS reported a near 58% rise in fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday, aided by a pickup in new business growth and steady income from renewed policies.

Profit stood at 6.09 billion rupees ($65.4 million) for the three months ended March 31, up from 3.86 billion rupees a year earlier.

For the full year, profit rose 34.6% to 16 billion rupees, and included gains from the sale of its stake in ICICI Pension Fund Management Company.

Net premium income jumped 17% to 191.8 billion rupees. One-time premiums increased 46%, while renewal premiums rose nearly 6%.

ICICI Prudential is India's first major life insurer to report its results, in a quarter where retail policy growth is expected to be supported by tax cut benefits, while demand for market-linked products, where returns depend on equity market performance, is likely to remain subdued amid volatility.

"The recent '0% GST reform' in September 2025 has made insurance policies more affordable and our retail protection segment registered a strong 50.9% year-on-year growth in second half of FY26," said MD and CEO Anup Bagchi.

Analysts had expected momentum to pick up for ICICI Prudential Life as it shifted focus back to growth after prioritising margins over volumes in recent quarters, supported by a higher mix of protection and non-participating savings products.

Annualised premium equivalent (APE) sales, a key measure of new business for insurers, rose 9.4% to 38.30 billion rupees.

Value of new business, which reflects expected profit from new policies, increased more than 21% to 9.65 billion rupees, supported by an improved product mix.

Margins on new business expanded to 24.7% at the end of March from 22.8% a year earlier, as a shift toward higher-margin products helped offset the impact of the loss of a tax credit that was removed following tax cuts.

Non-linked and protection products together accounted for 38% of APE, up from 37% a year earlier, while ULIPs made up 48%, down from 49%.

($1 = 93.1060 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Nishit Navin; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)

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By Vivek Kumar M

April 9 (Reuters) - India's battered bank stocks offer a compelling buying opportunity, with valuations for some large private lenders near their cheapest levels, said Amish Shah, head of India research at BofA Global Research.

Financials hold the heaviest weight among sectors on the benchmark Nifty 50 index .NSEI, with four banks featuring in the flagship index's top 10 heavyweight stocks.

The Nifty Bank index .NSEBANK has fallen 8% since the start of the Iran war at the end of February, underperforming the benchmark Nifty 50, which is down 4.7% over the same period.

That decline has pushed some large private banks to trade 1.5 to 2.5 standard deviations below their historical average valuations, making them among the cheapest they have been, Shah told Reuters in an interaction.

The decline comes amid a sharp 34% surge in crude oil prices since the Iran war, which has threatened growth and fanned inflation worries in Asia's third-largest economy. O/R

Foreign investors led the sell-off in banks, offloading a record 606.55 billion rupees ($6.53 billion) in shares of financial services companies in March.

"The valuations are extremely attractive," Shah said, adding that BofA expects a rate hike by the Reserve Bank of India later this financial year, which would further support banks by improving margins and strengthening their overall earnings outlook.

India's largest private lenders HDFC Bank HDBK.NS and ICICI Bank ICBK.NS trade at a price-to-book value of 1.8 times and 2.3 times their fiscal year 2027 earnings estimate, as per BofA Global Research.

IT TO UNDERPERFORM

On the contrary, Shah expects information technology stocks .NIFTYIT to continue their underperformance this year despite the ongoing rally driven by rupee depreciation.

He said the artificial intelligence disruption story is real and could slow IT growth in the short run as clients reassess spending and the impact of automation on outsourcing demand.

Over the medium to long term, however, Shah said broader AI adoption across enterprises could create a new growth runway for the sector as companies increase spending on implementation.

The IT index has risen 3.1% since the beginning of the war at the end of February.

BofA has an "Underweight" rating for India's IT sector, while it rates large private sector banks "Overweight".

(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M; Editing by Rashmi Aich)

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Updates throughout

April 2 (Reuters) - India's bank stocks dropped to their lowest levels in nearly a year on concerns over potential losses after the central bank intensified its crackdown on speculative activity in the rupee.

The Nifty Bank index .NSEBANK slid as much as 2.8% to 50,004.30 points - its lowest level since April 9, 2025 - with all constituents trading lower.

The index has fallen 4.3% this week following the Reserve Bank of India's curbs, underperforming the benchmark Nifty 50 .NSEI, which is down 2.6%.

On Wednesday, the RBI barred banks from offering rupee non-deliverable forwards to resident and non-resident clients, days after it put a limit of $100 million on banks' net open rupee positions.

Jefferies said banks were hoping to mitigate losses stemming from the initial measures by transferring or selling part of their positions to corporates, hedge funds and other clients.

The fresh curbs may bring the losses back to original estimates or a tad higher at 40 billion rupees to 50 billion rupees ($428.05 million-$535.07 million), the brokerage said.

The RBI's measures come as the rupee INR=IN has hit a string of all-time lows on worries over spillovers from the Iran war. The currency fell 4.24% in March, its worst monthly drop in six years, before the latest curbs helped it rise 1.4% to 93.53 per U.S. dollar in early trade on Thursday.

Private lenders HDFC Bank HDBK.NS and ICICI Bank ICBK.NS dropped 1.4% each on Thursday, while state-run banks logged sharper losses. State Bank of India SBI.NS was down 2.9%, while Punjab National Bank PNBK.NS, Canara Bank CNBK.NS and Union Bank of India UNBK.NS lost 3.4%, 3.6% and 3.9%, respectively.

Jefferies expects banks to book part of their losses in the January-March and April-June quarters, and said foreign lenders account for 45% of the currency derivatives market and related losses, while private banks have a 40% share.

($1 = 93.4460 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M in Bengaluru and Ashwin Manikandan in Mumbai; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

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