For top financiers, the slowdown is catching up faster than anticipated

Weak commentary from Bajaj Finance and HDFC Bank's loan growth missing estimates indicate that even market leaders are vulnerable to the ongoing slowdown

It was red Monday for the D-Street and it didn’t spare the stocks of Bajaj Finance and HDFC Bank, which are perceived as safe havens by investors. Shares of the two market leaders in their respective lending businesses were down over eight per cent and 2.5 per cent respectively, reacting to news flow which wasn’t encouraging.

Sanjeev Bajaj, the MD of Bajaj Finserv, which holds majority stake in Bajaj Finance, was on television admitting that sales growth of consumer durables, loans to small and medium enterprises and loan growth in rural pockets are slower than last year. Shares of Bajaj