Mumbai: India’s benchmark 30-share Sensex index was trading 35 points lower on Monday morning, led by losses in IT and banking shares.

At 9.40am, the BSE Sensex was down 0.13%, or 37.81 points, at 28,008.85 points, while the National Stock Exchange’s broader barometer 50-share Nifty was trading down 0.22%, or 18.15 points, at 8,371.75 points.

NEW DELHI: Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange are looking to set up small banks in the country once the Reserve Bank of India opens the window for applications.

The move will help the two exchanges, which have cash transactions running into thousands of crores, manage some of the funds, but will come as bad news for the existing players, such as HDFC Bank, which manage this amount and benefit by way of low cost of funds.

Having started to charge customers for excess usage of automated teller machines (ATM), the country largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has decided to improve its services and appoint a single vendor for maintenance of its ATMs.

Recently, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed banks to charge their customers after the first five free transactions, starting from November 1.

HDFC Bank will not be able to raise much money by way of foreign investment even as the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) on Friday regularised its current overseas investment structure. That is because the board turned down the bank’s plea to not treat the promoter stake as foreign investment. Besides, the bank will also have to deposit a penalty as it was in the breach of FDI guidelines.

The FIPB is of the view that HDFC Bank’ parent HDFC Ltd’s 22.50 per cent holding in the bank is foreign investment and, hence, the total foreign holding in the bank stands at 73.20 per cent, which includes FII, FDI, ADR and GDR, according to an official.

Markets recovered from day lows as strength in Infosys, L&T and Sun Pharma managed to cap losses in HDFC twins, TCS and Bharti Airtel. At 1045 hrs, the Sensex was down 185 points at 27,994 and the Nifty was down 13 points at 8,370.

However, the broader markets gave off their morning gains and turned flat with a positive bias. The midcap index was up 0.2% while the smallcap index was near yesterday's close.

HDFC Bank, the country’s second largest private sector one, has turned even more aggressive in its retail lending this festive season.

The bank is now funding up to 100 per cent of the loan-to-value (LTV) amount for two-wheelers (on-road prices) and for consumer durables. Earlier, it was funding 85 per cent for the former. The new scheme was put in place since the start of the festive season.

Shares of HDFC Bank were down a little over one per cent on Friday after the stock was dropped by the MSCI India Index in its semi-annual index review. The stock, which has been under pressure for want of higher foreign investment limits, declined 1.5 per cent to close at Rs 899 a share.

Analysts said the HDFC Bank shares were unlikely to see steep downside pressure because of the high investor-interest in the stock. HDFC Bank had a weightage of around two per cent in the MSCI Index, analysts said.

HDFC Bank and Axis Bank have decided to charge their own customers for more than five transactions at its automated teller machines starting 1 December.

HDFC Bank will charge Rs 20 for financial transactions and Rs 8.5 (excluding taxes) for non-financial transactions (balance enquiry, mini statement, etc).

Benchmark indices are trading flat with a negative bias as the advance in IT shares is being offset by losses in auto shares which are down on weak Ocotber sales data.

At 9:17 AM, Sensex was down 19 points at 27,846 while Nifty was down 8 points at 8315.

Maruti Suzuki India, the country’s largest carmaker and Axis Bank, the third largest private bank, have joined the elite club of companies with market capitalisation (m-cap) of more than Rs 1 lakh crore. Shares of both these companies hit their respective lifetime highs during intra-day deal on the bourses.

At 1340 hours, shares of Axis Bank up about 2% to Rs 437 on the BSE, taking its market value to Rs 1,03,154 crore.

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