Axis Bank Limited

Within this landscape, specific stocks are commanding attention.

Axis Bank has broken past a key barrier at Rs 1,280.

Traders see potential for the stock to test Rs 1,400 if it sustains this momentum.

similarly fsn e-commerce ventures known as nika shows buying interest near 344 rupees after a long sideways trend investors eyeing these movers should watch support levels carefully as corrections are possible before further gains the broader picture remains bullish for the medium term analysts believe the nifty could target 24 000 levels if it breaches current resistance zones at 23 150.

It presents a peculiar paradox for investors in the Indian banking sector where two giants share identical valuation metrics yet deliver vastly different financial outcomes during the September quarter of 2026.

Both HDFC Bank and Axis Bank trade at a price-to-book value of 1.9 times, hovering near their five-year lows.

However, their operational engines are running on entirely different fuel.

HDFC Bank expanded its loan book by 16.4% year-on-year to 31,95,000 crore rupees.

This subdued growth stems from higher tax expenses and provisions that constrained the bottom line, even as asset quality remained stable with net non-performing assets at 0.37%.

The net interest margin compressed slightly to 3.3%, reflecting pressure in the funding environment.

In sharp contrast, Axis Bank demonstrated superior momentum.

Its loan book grew by 23% to Rs 13,73,000 crore.

However, Brent crude remained elevated near one hundred and five dollars per barrel, while concerns over persistent inflation and US bond yields continued to warrant caution.

Looking ahead, markets will react to the quarterly earnings of major banking players, including HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, and ICICI Bank in early trade on Monday alongside developments on the global front over the weekend.

From a technical perspective, the Nifty is approaching the twenty-three thousand three hundred mark, and a decisive breakout above this level could extend the recovery towards twenty-three thousand five hundred to twenty-three thousand seven hundred.

On the downside, the twenty-two thousand seven hundred to twenty-two thousand nine hundred zone is now expected to provide support.

So UTI was purely a government company.

In 1993, it is established a separate company called UTI Bank, which started operations in 1994.

Meanwhile, UTI went through lots of troubles.

As some of you might remember, there was a meltdown because of many bad loans and some alleged corruption, after which the Vajpayee government restructured UTI.

Uh, today, I think Twitter's been talking about it.

Uh, it's only live with Axis Bank.

I think one thing to note is, I read a good note on this, on why this is not live with other banks, because seems like such an obvious, simple thing to do.

Of course, this is very geared up for the tier-one audiences.

And what Apple wants as a non-negotiable fee is 0.2 of that.

So basically, half of what banks are getting, they have to share with Apple if they wanna enable Apple Pay.

So Axis Bank was the first one to buy it.

It took 12 years for Apple Pay to come to India after, uh, announcing it to the world and people loving the service globally.

Nifty IT slipped 0.79% with Tech Mahindra falling 3% ahead of its Q2 results later this week as investors priced in uncertainty.

Bank Nifty fell 0.61% dragged by SBI, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank as the RBI's liquidity squeeze hit banking stocks directly.

Tighter liquidity means banks face higher funding costs, which compresses their margins.

On the bright side, Nifty Auto surged 0.90%, with Bajaj Auto gaining 2.62% and TVS Motor up 2%, riding strong September sales momentum.

On the flip side, Apollo hospitals dropped 3.15%, part of a broader healthcare sell-off that CNBC TV18 reported was linked to concerns around proposed drug price caps potentially hitting hospital EBITDA margins.

Looking at what's ahead, this week is heavy with earnings.

HDFC Bank, HCL Technologies, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank are all reporting Q2 results.

HCL Tech's board meeting was actually today.

Ramal, let me ask you a question specifically about banking, because that's a world most of our listeners live in.

You sat on the boards of Axis Bank and Crystal.

So you've seen this from the inside.

Here's the tension that I keep coming back to.

Apple wants some 20 basis point, which is like 0.2% of each transaction, which is pretty high, if you ask me.

Whether Axis Bank is okay with it or not, I assume they are, but other banks are obviously not okay.

I mean, if you have UPI, why the hell do you need Axis Pay? If you have Samsung Pay, yes, it's convenient, but why the hell do you need Apple Pay? The most important question in all this is why the hell does Apple think that people in India will just give them money freely, huh? They are already charging way too much for their devices in India.

The iPhones, which are basically made in India, are much more expensive in India than they are in the rest of the world.

That's the kind of update that tells the market the lending engine is still running hot.

Axis Bank's Q2 gross advances rose 23% year-on-year to Rs 13.8 lakh crore, adding fuel to the same fire.

The RBI rate decision is looming, with the CNBC TV18 poll pointing to a 25 basis point hike to 5.5%, and banks with strong loan growth are best positioned to pass that cost on.

That banking strength is showing up sharply in individual names.

The stock is up 60% over six months, and today's move says the market believes the margin recovery is real.

Kotak Mahindra Bank is climbing 3.92% on the back of that Q2 advances data with Goldman Sachs lifting its target price on the stock.

Axis Bank is up 2.14% as its Q2 gross advances print draws buying interest.

Reliance Industries is up 2.68% sitting at the day's high with Jefferies increasing its weightage in their model portfolio.