More Stories

Informist, Thursday, Jul. 16, 2026

 

By Diksha Tripathy 

 

MUMBAI – After a sluggish end to the last financial year, Axis Bank Ltd. is expected to begin 2026-27 (Apr-Mar) with a robust set of earnings for the June quarter. The bank's net profit for the June quarter is expected to rise sharply on year owing to a strong recovery in loan growth, according to brokerages tracking the bank. The net interest income is also expected to improve.

 

The private-sector lender is expected to post a net profit of INR 70.65 billion for the June quarter, up around 22% on year, according to the average of estimates from 16 brokerages. The highest estimate of net profit is INR 94.81 billion from PhillipCapital (India) Pvt. Ltd. and the lowest is INR 63.85 billion from Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt Ltd. For the March quarter, the bank had reported a net profit of INR 70.71 billion, up 9% on year, as the provisions jumped nearly 160% on year to INR 35.22 billion.

 

Brokerages attributed the rise in profit to a strong growth in advances. Axis Bank had reported a nearly 19% on-year rise in gross advances to INR 12.73 trillion as on Jun. 30. The bank's loan growth outlook will be one of the key factors to watch out for after the June quarter earnings report, brokerages said.

 

Axis Bank is also expected to witness healthy growth in its deposits for the June quarter. The bank's total deposits increased over 18% on year to INR 13.73 trillion as on Jun. 30. Of the total deposits, the private-sector bank's current account savings account deposits rose over 11% on year to INR 5.22 trillion.

 

The bank's net interest income – the difference between the interest earned and interest expended – is expected to rise nearly 10% on year and nearly 3% on quarter to INR 148.75 billion for the June quarter. The highest estimate for net interest income is INR 155.15 billion from Bank of America Global Research and the lowest is INR 145.40 billion from Dolat Capital Market Pvt. Ltd.

 

"NII (net interest income) growth will be in-line with average loan growth as the rise in yield on advances to be in tandem with rise in cost of deposits," YES Securities (India) Ltd. said in a report.

 

For the March quarter, the bank had posted a net interest income of INR 144.57 billion, up nearly 5% on year and over 1% on quarter. The bank's overall net interest margin had shrunk 2 basis points sequentially to 3.62%. For the June quarter, most brokerages expect the net interest margin of the bank to decline on a sequential basis amid faster growth and due to seasonally higher slippages in the first quarter owing to tax outflows. However, YES Securities expects the net interest margin to remain stable. In terms of asset quality, the slippages of the bank are expected to increase in the reporting quarter, brokerages said. Credit costs are expected to decline in the June quarter due to a one-time higher additional provision of INR 20 billion in the trailing quarter. 

 

The bank's annualised credit cost shrank to 0.75% in the March quarter from 1.02% a quarter ago. The bank's provisions had shot up to INR 35.22 billion in the March quarter, up from INR 13.59 billion a year ago and up nearly 57% on quarter.

 

For the first quarter, the fee income is expected to grow in-line with growth in advances, most brokerages said. However, YES Securities said the sequential fee income growth will be lower than loan growth due to seasonality. The treasury income of the bank is expected to recover in the June quarter.

 

Employees' expenses for the June quarter are expected to be higher due to annual wage hikes and bonuses, which may weigh on the profitability of the bank. The other operational expenses are expected to be lower due to seasonality, which may also pull down the cost-to-income ratio--a key indicator of a bank's operational efficiency. 

 

The private-sector lender's commentary on foreign currency non-resident (bank) deposits and external commercial borrowings will also be tracked by market participants. In June, the Reserve Bank of India opened a concessional swap window for banks to park funds raised from their three-year FCNR(B) deposits at no hedging cost and the scheme will be in effect till Sept. 30.

 

Axis Bank is scheduled to declare its earnings Saturday. Commentary on asset quality, margins, and growth outlook of the bank will be closely monitored, brokerages said. Thursday, the bank's shares ended at INR 1,307.6 apiece on the National Stock Exchange, 4.7% lower from Wednesday. The stock is down over 1% since its March quarter earnings were announced on Apr. 25.

 

Of the 21 brokerage reports on the bank available with Informist, 20 have a "buy" or equivalent recommendation on the stock with an average target price of INR 1,562 per share. This is over 19% higher than the current market price. One brokerage has a "hold" recommendation with a target price of INR 1,500 per share.

 

Following are the Apr-Jun earnings estimates, in INR billion, for Axis Bank from 16 brokerages, in descending order by the net profit estimate:

 

Brokerage	Net Interest Income	Net Profit
PhillipCapital (India) Pvt. Ltd.	149.85	94.81
Systematix Shares and Stocks (India) Ltd.	148.40	74.52
Dolat Capital Market Pvt. Ltd.	145.40	73.70
SMIFS Ltd.	148.00	73.00
Anand Rathi Share and Stock Brokers Ltd.	152.84	71.63
JM Financial Institutional Securities Pvt. Ltd.	149.10	70.50
Elara Securities (India) Pvt. Ltd.	147.81	68.89
YES Securities (India) Ltd.	148.19	68.87
Nomura Equity Research	145.80	68.20
Bank of America Global Research	155.15	67.91
IDBI Capital Market Services Ltd.	148.26	67.83
Kotak Securities Ltd.	148.09	67.79
Nirmal Bang Equities Pvt. Ltd.	148.65	67.14
Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.	149.94	66.77
Nuvama Wealth Management Ltd.	147.61	65.06
Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt. Ltd.	146.85	63.85
Average	148.75	70.65

 

End

 

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

 

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. 2026. All rights reserved.