Q2 business update: Banks report healthy loan growth; Nykaa, DMart post strong revenue growth

Indian companies across the banking, retail and metals sectors reported healthy business performance in the second quarter of the current financial year, with lenders posting strong credit growth and retailers reporting robust revenue and sales growth.

HDFC Bank, the country's largest private sector lender, said its average advances under management stood at ₹31.87 lakh crore in the September 2026 quarter, up around 14% from ₹27.95 lakh crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Several other banks, including Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Bank of India and Bandhan Bank, also reported double-digit growth in their loan books during the quarter.

Retail companies also reported strong growth in the July-September period, with FSN E-Commerce, which operates Nykaa, expecting consolidated net revenue growth in the high twenties, while Avenue Supermarts, operator of DMart, reported an 18% year-on-year (YoY) increase in revenue.

Bank of Baroda's domestic advances rose 13.51% to ₹11.87 lakh crore out of which retail advances, which include personal loans and credit cards, climbed 19% to ₹3.24 lakh crore.

Its domestic loan book surged 16.83% to ₹12.63 lakh crore while its global loan book rose 19.35% to ₹13.73 lakh crore.

The bank's portfolio of domestic retail, agriculture, and MSME loans rose 21% to ₹8.12 lakh crore.

The state-run lender's total business jumped 21.07% to ₹18.91 lakh crore from ₹15.62 lakh crore a year earlier.

Domestic deposits also showed a strong picture as its gross domestic deposits rose 23.3% to ₹9 lakh crore.

The bank's CASA deposits rose 4.3% to ₹46,131 crore.

Refined metal production came in at 264 kt, up 7% YoY, driven by additional capacity unlocked from debottlenecking projects at Chanderiya and Dariba and 160 kt pa roaster at Debari and in line with plant availability, the Vedanta group company said.

Its saleable silver production rose 20% to 173 metric tonnes in line with production plan.

"The business strengthened across both verticals, supported by the increasing scale of the fashion vertical and steady growth in the beauty vertical. With this, the Consolidated Net Revenue growth is expected to be in late twenties, marking yet another quarter of solid growth for Nykaa," the company said in an eschange filing.

The company added 14 new stores taking the total store count to 338.

The company's same store sales growth was in the early twenties, the highest in the last six quarters. House of Nykaa continued to grow ahead of the overall beauty vertical, supported by healthy performance across both core and emerging brands, the company added.

The total number of stores as of September 30, 2026 stood at 518 stores.