Axis Bank has joined the Rs 3 trillion market capitalisation club, with shares of the privately held lender hitting a new high of Rs 978.85 on the BSE in intraday trade on Wednesday. With a market capitalisation of 3.02 trillion rupees as of 10:27 am, the data showed Axis Bank ranked 17th among BSE-listed companies.

In the banking sector, HDFC Bank topped the list with a market capitalisation of Rs 8.97 trillion, followed by ICICI Bank (Rs 6.57 trillion), State Bank of India (SBI) (Rs 5.24 trillion) and Kotak Mahindra Bank (Rs 3.87 trillion).

Over the past week, Axis Bank has outperformed the market, gaining 7%, while the S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.34%. HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank fell 1%, while SBI and Kotak Mahindra Bank rose less than 1% during the period.

Axis Bank is India’s third largest private bank, with a balance sheet of Rs 13.17 trillion as of March 2023. The bank is acquiring Citi’s consumer banking portfolio for Rs 11,600 crore, effective March 2023, of which retail assets are around Rs 27,000 crore and retail assets are Rs 40,000 crore. Axis Bank has millions of liabilities on its books. As a result, a special provision of Rs 12,489 crore has been made in the income statement for Q4FY23.

Emkay Global Financial Services maintained its “Buy” rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 1,225, valuing the bank at 2x its FY25E ABV.

BNP Paribas analysts say Axis Bank remains our ‘smart-beta’ Buy rating and one of our top three sector picks.