Kotak Mahindra Bank has surged 7% to Rs 1,242, extending its previous day’s 7% rally on National Stock Exchange (NSE), after the Kotak Mahindra Bank announced it was acquiring ING Vysya Bank in an all-stock deal.

ING Vysya Bank shareholders will get 725 Kotak Mahindra Bank shares for every 1,000 shares they hold.

Benchmark indices are likely to open lower tracking the weakness in select Asian markets which remain subdued despite sharp overnight gains on Wall Street.

At 8:35AM, the early indicator SGX Nifty was down 3 points at 8,420.

Shares of ING Vysya Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank have rallied by up to 6% in early trade on BSE on reports that Kotak Mahindra Bank in final stages to buy the bank.

The BSE said that the Exchange has sought clarification from Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd with respect to the media report appearing on ETNOW on November 19, 2014 titled "Kotak Bank may merge ING VYSYA with itself in the ratio 2:2.5, deal likely to close within one month.”

Gains in bank shares have lifted the Bank Nifty near its 52-week high on expectations of more reforms to push the economy on the growth track after Narendra Modi-led BJP emerged as the largest party in Maharashtra, the country's largest industrial State and is poised to form a government in Haryana after acquiring a majority.

State-owned banks which led the Bank Nifty include PNB, SBI, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank up 1.8-3.5% each.

MUMBAI: Private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) today launched a Facebook-based instant fund transfer service wherein one can send money to friends on the social media network real time, for free.

This is a bank agnostic product, the sender and the receiver may not be our account holders. We have used the IMPS platform on the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) network to make this possible, KMB's executive vice president and head of digital initiatives, Deepak Sharma, told PTI over phone.

Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company, the country’s ninth biggest fund house in terms of assets, has acquired the local schemes of PineBridge Mutual Fund, for an undisclosed sum, subject to regulatory approvals.

PineBridge MF had assets under management (AUM) of only Rs 660 crore. The deal marks a third exit of a foreign fund house in less than a year and underscores the challenging conditions for smaller entities.

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana offered an opportunity for local banks to grow their businesses in the current uncertain economic environment, says Uday Kotak, executive vice-chairman and managing director of Kotak Mahindra Bank.

"The banking industry is presently in the midst of significant stress. The Jan Dhan Yojana has a great vision, but execution is important.

Kotak Mahindra Bank's proposed Rs 459 crore deal to acquire 15 per cent stake in commodity bourse MCX on Monday got the approval of fair trade regulator CCI, making the financial sector conglomerate a major player in exchange business.

According to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) the proposed deal "is not likely to have an appreciable adverse effect on competition in India".

Kotak Mahindra Bank falls 1.4 percent.

Macquarie downgrades the stock to "neutral" from "outperform." Brokerage cites Kotak Mahindra's "massive outperformance"

Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) on Friday said benefits of developing its Gujarat project through a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japanese parent Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) were being conveyed to investors by an MSIL team, led by Chairman R C Bhargava and Managing Director K Ayukawa.

Kotak Mahindra Capital and Axis Capital will facilitate the process to woo minority shareholders.

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