More Stories

Informist, Friday, May 2, 2025

By Anjana Therese Antony

MUMBAI – Traders added short bets in the options chain of Kotak Mahindra Bank ahead of its quarterly results due Saturday. The bank is likely to report an on-year decline in net profit due to a sharp increase in provisions, and the net interest income is expected to grow in the mid-single digit. Premiums across call contracts of the bank expiring May 29 almost halved, and those on some out-of-the-money put options rose marginally.

The stock closed 1% lower at INR 2,185.20 Friday on the National Stock Exchange. It also closed lower on a weekly basis after ending higher the previous two weeks. Premiums on INR 2,180-INR 2,100 put contracts rose 1-6% and those on INR 2,180-INR 2,520 call options fell 33-50%. The highest addition of open interest was at INR 2,100 put and INR 2,200 call options. 

The private-sector lender is expected to report a 14% on-year fall in net profit for the March quarter to INR 35.66 billion, while its net interest income is seen rising over 7% on year to INR 74.11 billion, according to the average of estimates from 15 broking firms. The bank's provisions are seen tripling in the reporting quarter from INR 2.64 billion a year ago, some brokerages said in their earnings preview reports. Kotak Mahindra Bank's provisions in the December quarter were INR 7.94 billion.

On the other hand, the bank is likely to report improved growth in loans and deposits during the March quarter. This would be supported by its acquisition of Standard Chartered Bank's personal loan book worth INR 33.30 billion. Also, the Reserve Bank of India lifting restrictions on the bank regarding onboarding of new customers through its online and mobile banking channels and issuance of new credit cards is expected to boost the metrics. "Lifting of RBI embargo could lead to better loan and deposit growth; bank also plans to increase share of unsecured loans from 10.5% to 15% which would cushion NIM (net interest margin)," Prabhudas Lilladher said in its earnings preview report. 

The bank's stock has a 2.95% weightage in the Nifty 50 and the fall in its share price pulled down the index by over 9 points Friday. The Nifty 50 closed just about 13 points higher Friday at 24346.70 points after rising over 1% intra-day to an over-four-month high of 24589.15 points. The March quarter earnings season has not shown any major signs of potential recovery from the slowdown in financial growth of listed companies in India, which is probably limiting near-term gains in the market. 

--Nifty 50 May closed at 24395.10, down 23.30 points; 48.40-point premium to the spot index

--Nifty 50 Jun closed at 24511.80, down 8.70 points; 165.10-point premium to the spot index

--Nifty 50 Jul closed at 24626.50, down 20.50 points; 279.80-point premium to the spot index

Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, Eternal, HDFC Bank, JSW Steel, ICICI Bank, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Maruti Suzuki India, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Federal Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, and Axis Bank were the most active underlying stocks Friday.  End

Edited by Rajeev Pai

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.