Maintain ‘outperform’ on Axis Bank with a target of R680 per share. Management believes that corporate loan demand is unlikely to come back in a hurry and the recent pick-up for the bank has been driven by takeover and re-financing. The bank has gained market share taking advantage of the opportunities in the segment and management believes that opportunities for market share gains remain over the next few quarters. Loan growth will also be therefore more balanced across both corporate and retail segments.

The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday said entities, including Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and Axis Bank, have applied for setting up an exchange-based trading platform to facilitate financing of bills.

Those who have applied to set up trade receivables discounting system (TReDS), include NSE Strategic Investment Corporation (NSIC) and SIDBI and Axis Bank, among others, the RBI said. Others include Mynd Solutions from Gurgaon, DICIC Bank of India from Kolkata, NSDL Database Management and Trade Receivables Exchange from the financial capital. The RBI had framed the final guidelines for TReDS in ecember last and had given time till March 9 for applications.

Axis Bank has cut retail deposit rates by 15-25 basis points (bps) in select maturities. The bank has cut rates by 25 bps for deposits of 18 to 36 months and by 15 bps for deposits up to 18 months. The revised rate stands at 8.50 per cent across all categories in the 6 months to 10 years bucket. These rates are valid for deposits below Rs 1 crore.

On March 4, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cut the repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.50 per cent. It had cut the repo rate by 25 bps in January as well. With interest rates going down, it was expected that deposit rates offered by banks would go down as well.

ICICI Bank has under-performed both Axis Bank and the S&P BSE Sensex in 2015 so far. As compared to gains of 13.3 per cent in Axis scrip and 3.4 per cent in Sensex, the ICICI scrip has corrected about six per cent this year. Consequently, ICICI Bank now trades at a 16 per cent discount to Axis on a price/book value basis, higher than its historical valuation discount of about 10-11 per cent vis-à-vis Axis. ICICI Bank trades at 2.2 times FY16 estimated book value versus Axis' 2.6 times. Analysts, however, believe this valuation discount is unjustified and should reduce over time.

Mumbai: After gaining 250 points in the morning trade, the 30-share benchmark S&P BSE Sensex erased all the gains and was trading over 300 points lower on Friday, led by losses in the shares of capital goods, banking, auto, pharma, realty and energy companies.

At 12.08pm, the Sensex was trading lower by 1%, or 309 points, at 28,625, while the 50-share CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange fell 1.06%, or 92.75 points, to 8,680.

Axis Bank has priced a $250 million bond issue via a tap of its existing 3.2 per cent senior unsecured notes due 2020. The notes, issued in Reg-S format will be fungible with the existing 2020 maturity paper.

The notes are issued by Axis Bank’s DIFC branch, Dubai and are rated Baa2 by Moody's, BBB- by S&P and Fitch. The deal was launched at initial price guidance of US treasuries plus 150 basis points and attracted robust demand from investors with the books covered within an hour of announcement of transaction to the market.

Banking shares are in demand with the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Bank Nifty has surged over 500 points on hopes that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's proposal to simplify the procedures for local companies to attract foreign investments is likely to favour select private sector lenders who will now be able to raise additional money from foreign institutional investors (FIIs).

Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank and Yes Bank have rallied more than 5% each, while Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bank of Baroda, ICICI Bank, Canara Bank , HDFC Bank and State Bank of India (SBI) are up 1-4% on NSE.

To increase its base of wealthy customers, Axis Bank, the third largest private sector lender, has launched a new service.

Named Burgundy, it will offer services like no-limit credit cards and a multi currency foreign exchange card, among others. Customers with a relationship value of at least Rs 30 lakh will qualify. Of the existing base, 40,000 account holders come in this. In the next 12 to 18 months, it aims to add another 75,000-100,000 customers in this segment.

Mumbai: India’s benchmark index, S&P BSE Sensex, rose for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, led by shares of capital goods, healthcare and power companies, and banks.

The 30-share Sensex closed 0.63%, or 178.35 points, higher at 28,533.97, while the National Stock Exchange’s broader 50-share CNX Nifty gained 0.72%, or 61.85 points, to end at 8,627.40.

Network video maker, Axis Communications has introduced AXIS Q29 Temperature Alarm Camera Series, a new series of network cameras with remote temperature monitoring capabilities. With two available lens alternatives and a resolution of 336×256, the cameras allow remote monitoring of critical temperatures at both short and long distances.

The temperature alarm cameras are likely to be available in Q1 2015 at a price of USD$6499 through Axis distribution channels.

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