Go for banks strong in corporate banking: Mahantesh Sabarad

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Mahantesh Sabarad, Independent Market Expert, says the banking sector outlook remains that corporate banking will probably grow faster, if not in terms of growth rate number, then in terms of overall NIMs. Look for those banks which are better placed in terms of their corporate banking verticals. There could be more such banks in terms of corporate banking being better off.

That is the general outlook I would take on the banking sector.What are you making of the earning season so far for the financial names because Kotak Mahindra Bank saw a bit of a sell-off despite reporting a decent set and ICICI Bank did not get the reception it wanted. What is your take on Axis Bank? The GNPA is better, slight worsening of net NPA at around 0.4% thereabouts coming in and of course and the profitability is at Rs 5,800 crore.So, let me talk about the banking sector that you alluded to. There has been a slight difference in the way various banks have reported numbers.

Firstly, on the NIM number, which is the net interest margin, somehow the banks have reported an expansion while some have reported near steady numbers, others have reported a drop in NIM numbers. Kotak for example saw a bit of a drop in the NIM number. Now, these are sequential numbers that I am talking about.

When it comes to asset quality per se, there is virtually nothing much to talk about because most of the asset quality numbers are either steadier or slightly better. Even if there is deterioration, it can be ignored. Even within asset quality numbers, the slippages by most of the banks have been higher than what we had seen earlier.