Axis Bank Ltd. leapfrogged Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. to become the third-largest private bank by market capitalisation as the Indian central bank's recent curbs on the latter led its stock falling sharply on Thursday.
The development comes as analysts have estimated Kotak Mahindra Bank's growth and margins to fall after the Reserve Bank of India directed it to cease and desist the issue of fresh credit cards and the onboarding of new customers through its online and mobile banking channels with immediate effect.
Kotak Mahindra's stock fell as much as 13.07% during the day to Rs 1,602 apiece on the NSE. It was trading 9.64% lower at Rs 1,665.1 apiece, compared to a 0.2% advance in the benchmark Nifty 50 as of 10:15 a.m. The market cap of the Kotak Mahindra dropped by over Rs 35,600 crore as of 10:28 a.m.
Axis Bank's market cap stood at Rs 3.41 lakh crore, while that of Kotak Mahindra stood at approximately Rs 3.29 lakh crore, as of 10 a.m.
HDFC Bank Ltd. remains the country top private bank by market cap, followed by ICICI Bank Ltd.
Brokerages have slashed their target price for Kotak Mahindra as the private lender's growth and interest margins could be adversely impacted due to the RBI's action.