HDFC Bank on Tuesday said RBI has given approval to the group to acquire up to 9.5 per cent stake each in six lenders, including ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.
Among the Sensex firms, Mahindra & Mahindra jumped the most by 5.96 per cent. Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Trent, ITC and HDFC Bank were also among the gainers. However, Maruti Suzuki India, Bharat Electronics, HCL Tech, NTPC, Power Grid, Infosys and Reliance Industries were among the laggards.
Life insurance companies reported a 13.16 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in new business premium (NBP), totting up Rs 30,347 crore in October, even as the number of policies sold saw a sharp decline. The growth was largely driven by strong performance from private sector life insurers.
HDFC and HDFC Bank's merger - touted as India's biggest-ever corporate merger - pumped up shares of the two entities on the bourses. Shares of Housing Finance Development Corporation (HDFC) skyrocketed 9 per cent while those of HDFC Bank zoomed 10 per cent. In comparison, the benchmark S&P BSESensex and the Nifty50 indices settled 2.2 per cent higher on Monday.
rediffGURU Vipul Bhavsar answers readers' personal income tax queries.
The Reserve Bank of India is likely to take a call on the relaxations sought by HDFC Bank in relation to the merger, as the date of merger draws closer, sources said. The HDFC twins, which announced their decision to merge in April last year, received National Company Law Tribunal's (NCLT's) approval recently - a key milestone to close the deal in due time. The management of both the entities had said that it will take 15-18 months for the merger.
Indian equity benchmarks rose nearly 2 per cent on Thursday, capping a truncated trading week with their strongest weekly performance in over four years. The rally was sparked by renewed risk-on sentiment following progress in trade negotiations and expanded tariff exemptions.
The life insurance industry reported a 25.28 per cent decline in new business premium income in November 2023 to Rs 26,494.83 crore from Rs 34,588.8 crore recorded a year ago. The fall in group premium and change in taxation norms for policies with a higher ticket size dragged the premiums of the state-run Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and private insurers, respectively. According to the data released by the Life Insurance Council, the premium of private insurers slipped 9.33 per cent Y-o-Y to Rs 10,360.29 crore from Rs 11,426.73 crore as a result of a change in product mix due to the measures taken to counter the impact of tax imposed on the premiums of Rs 5 lakh.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries has retained its position as the highest-ranked Indian company on the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list, according to the latest rankings released by the publication. The oil-to-telecom-and-retail conglomerate has been ranked at No.88 on the latest list, down from 86th position in 2024.
In HDFC Life, the company has to pare 1.43 per cent, and in HDFC Ergo, it has to pare only 0.58 per cent.
In a mixed bag for HDFC Bank ahead of the parent HDFC's merger with itself, the Reserve Bank of India has declined to make exceptions on certain aspects, and has offered some leeway on others. The country's largest private sector lender, which is aiming to conclude the merger with the home finance major by July, had written to the central bank seeking certain forbearances after announcing the $40-billion merger in April last year. In an exchange filing this evening, HDFC Bank said it received a response from RBI on Thursday and also said that there are a few pending issues.
Private life insurers are expected to deliver decent growth in the first quarter of the 2023-24 financial year (Q1FY24) on the back of stronger group business performance and easing supply-side constraints on individual protection. Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), though, is likely to see a decline. Healthy 12 per cent year-on-year (YoY) retail annual premium equivalent (APE) growth for private players, coupled with 11 per cent year-on-year (YoY) decline in LIC, will pull retail APE growth to a mere 3 per cent YoY in June 2023.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India's (Irdai's) decision to allow insurers to hedge risks through equity derivatives will help them manage market volatility and protect policyholder returns. However, this move is unlikely to alter their investment strategies.
'We do not believe in fire sale. We don't do it.'
Ask rediffGURU and PF and MF expert Janak Patel your mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Nitin Narkhede your mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
'We have opened 100 branches in the last one and a half years. Our manpower is also in place.'
The share of life insurance policies sold by top private insurers in the rural areas declined in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) compared to previous year. SBI Life, HDFC Life, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance -- the top three players from the private sector-- have seen the share of insurance policies sold in rural areas drop in FY24 as compared to the previous financial year. Max Life Insurance's share of rural policies recorded an increase in FY24.
The country's largest private lender HDFC Bank on Saturday reported a 6.51 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit to Rs 16,474.85 crore in the April-June quarter compared to the previous January-March quarter. The city-headquartered lender, which merged its mortgage major parent HDFC into itself in July last year, had reported a net profit of Rs 17,622.38 crore in the March quarter. On a standalone basis, the net profit declined to Rs 16,174.75 crore in April-June 2024-25 from Rs 16,511.85 crore in January-March 2023-24.
Investors will take cues from the December quarter corporate earnings, with blue-chips like Infosys, Reliance Industries scheduled to report their results this week, in addition, inflation data and trading activity of foreign investors will also be crucial in dictating market trends, analysts said.
Ask rediffGURU and PF and MF expert Janak Patel your mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
'Margins will be an outcome of that. They will likely remain somewhat range-bound.'
All the four listed private life insurance companies recorded a drop in value of new business (VNB) margin in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) as compared to FY23. This is because of a higher share of unit-linked insurance plans (Ulips) in the product mix. VNB is a measure of the economic value of profits expected to emerge from a new business.
While a giant, it's a nimble-footed one, and is growing at a speed that even some of its private sector peers find enviable.
Between FY18 and FY24, it doubled its balance sheet. Despite being a late entrant in some segments, it has been able to grab market share, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
State-backed Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) recorded strong growth in the value of new business (VNB) margin in the third quarter of financial year 2023-24 (Q3FY24) while major listed private life insurers reported a weak performance. VNB refers to the profit that an insurer is likely to garner from new business, which comes from policies sold in a particular period. VNB margin is the profit margin of the insurer.
Ask rediffGURU and PF and MF expert Janak Patel your mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Milind Vadjikar your insurance, stocks, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
HDFC Bank, the country's largest private-sector lender, lost to competition wholesale loans of around Rs 50,000 crore after it increased interest rates in May, said Chief Financial Officer Srinivasan Vaidyanathan in an analyst call. "There were some customers who were offered lower rates by other market participants. "But we decided not to cut back on our rates," he said while addressing analysts after the announcement of the bank's Q1 earnings.
The Indian insurance industry is set to focus on customer-centric technological adoption and expansion into rural areas to drive growth in 2025.
Only experienced investors with a high risk appetite, a grasp of market cycles, and comfort with volatility and timing risk should invest.
As the results season kicks in, the quarterly earnings numbers of several blue-chip firms -- such as Infosys and Reliance Industries -- along with global trends and trading activity of foreign investors, will determine equity market movement in the holiday-shortened week ahead, according to analysts. The domestic WPI inflation data for June -- scheduled to be announced on Monday -- will also influence trading sentiments, traders said. Markets will remain closed on Wednesday for Muharram.
New India Assurance and Niva Bupa have invested in the Bima Sugam India Federation.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) has asked at least 10 general and life insurance companies to submit a detailed road map for their listing strategies by the end of this month, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the matter. "The regulator met four life and six general insurers last month and asked them to provide their listing strategies by the end of February," said one of the sources.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Milind Vadjikar your insurance, stocks, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
'If we want faster growth and want greater flow of credit towards the private sector, it's important to have many more of such large entities.'
But there are challenges, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Christopher Wood, global head of equity strategy at Jefferies has rejigged his equity portfolios. In his Asia ex-Japan long-only portfolio, he has added Axis Bank (5 per cent weightage) and increased holding in Larsen & Toubro (L&T) by one percentage point. This, Wood said, will be paid for by removing the investment in ICICI Lombard General Insurance and reducing the investments in HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries (RIL) by one percentage point each.
Ask rediffGURU and PF and MF expert Janak Patel your mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Milind Vadjikar your insurance, stocks, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
Brokerages expect a further slowdown in Indian firms' revenue and earnings growth in Q4FY25, following low single-digit growth in the preceding three quarters, as factors like weak consumer demand and credit growth linger on.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances