HDFC Bank, SBI, ICICI Bank: Nifty Bank falls over 1%; what investors need to know

The banking stocks were seen under pressure on Friday, August 22, as the equity benchmark indices also traded lower on global cues.

Investors are eyeing a speech from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the annual Jackson Hole symposium for further cues.

Nifty Bank was trading at the 55,161.25 level, declining 1.07%. All the stocks in the gauge were seen as negative. Kotak Mahindra Bank (-1.72%) slipped the most, followed by Punjab National Bank (-1.65%), HDFC Bank (-1.33%), Bank of Baroda (-1.3%), State Bank of India (-1.14%) and AU Small Finance Bank (-1.08%).

Further, Canara Bank (-0.95%), IndusInd Bank (-0.93%), Federal Bank (-0.87%), Axis Bank (-0.63%), ICICI Bank (-0.55%) and IDFC First Bank (-0.43%) also traded lower.

Meanwhile, S&P Global Ratings last week had upgraded ratings of the top 10 financial institutions, including SBI, HDFC Bank and Tata Capital.

The ratings agency had raised long-term issuer credit ratings on seven Indian banks—State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank Ltd, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Union Bank of India, and Indian Bank—and three finance companies—Bajaj Finance, Tata Capital, and L&T Finance.

"We expect India's banks to maintain adequate asset quality, good profitability, and enhanced capitalisation over the next 12-24 months. This is despite some pockets of stress," S&P said, adding, Credit risk in the system has reduced.

This week, the finance ministry held a meeting of heads of public sector banks (PSBs) to review their first-quarter financial performance.

The three-hour-long meeting was chaired by Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju.

During the meeting, the secretary urged the MDs and CEOs of state-owned banks to increase lending towards the productive sector of the economy, according to sources.

The review meeting with public sector banks assessed the performance of the first quarter of 2025-26.

Led by State Bank of India (SBI), public sector banks, cumulatively, logged a record profit of ₹44,218 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, with an 11% year-on-year growth.

All 12 public sector banks together made a profit of ₹39,974 crore in the June quarter of FY25. The increase in profit in absolute terms was ₹4,244 crore.

Market leader SBI alone contributed 43 per cent to the total earnings of ₹44,218 crore, as per the published numbers on stock exchanges.

SBI logged a net profit of ₹19,160 crore in Q1 FY26, 12% higher than the same period of the previous fiscal year. In terms of size and profits, the biggest lender in the nation still controls the public banking market.

In percentage terms, Chennai-based Indian Overseas Bank reported the highest net profit growth of 76% to ₹1,111 crore, followed by Punjab & Sind Bank with a 48% rise to ₹269 crore.

During the quarter, all 12 public sector banks (PSBs) except Punjab National Bank (PNB) reported a decline in profit.

PNB reported a 48% fall in net profit to ₹1,675 crore against ₹3,252 crore in the year-ago period.

Central Bank of India recorded 32.8% growth in the June quarter net profit to ₹1,169 crore, Indian Bank posted a 23.7% rise to ₹2,973 crore, and Bank of Maharashtra logged a 23.2% improvement to ₹1,593 crore.