SBI joins the Rs 8-trillion m-cap league; eyes $100 billion m-cap

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The State Bank of India (SBI) on Monday became the first public sector bank and the seventh Indian company to cross the Rs 8 trillion market capitalisation (m-cap). HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank are the only other lenders with m-cap of over Rs 8 trillion.

SBI achieved the milestone as its shares surged 9.5 per cent on Monday amid a broad-based rally in the equity market ahead of the election results.

SBI, along with other state-owned banks, has seen a sharp rise in stock prices in the last few years on the back of strong profit growth and improvement in asset quality. The rally was also supported by their comparatively better valuations vis-a-vis private players.

In the last year, SBI is up nearly 55 per cent, while the Nifty PSU Bank index has almost doubled during the period.

At present, six Indian companies are valued over Rs 8 trillion. Apart from SBI, Reliance Industries, TCS, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, and ICICI Bank are in the Rs 8 trillion league. IT major Infosys had also crossed the milestone but is now valued at Rs 5.8 trillion.

Domestic lenders SBI and ICICI Bank are also on the verge of crossing the $100 billion m-cap milestone. Recently, telecom major Airtel achieved that feat.