ICICI Bank is our pick for the long term. ICICI bank limited is the second largest financial services company in India. ICICI Bank has 2,533 branches,6,800 ATMs in India and has a presence in 19 countries, including India. Other than India they operate in United Kingdom, Russia, Canada; branches in United States, Singapore, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Qatar and Dubai International Finance Center. They also have branches in Belgium and Germany.

ICICI Bank has been doing well in Life and Non-Life Insurance business as well. ICICI Bank is one of most aggressive player in the banking sector and their presence in smaller cities put them in a perfect position to benefit from the growth in smaller cities and town. At the moment, stock markets across the world are going through lot of turbulence. India has been suffering from domestic unstable political situation and high inflation rate. As a result, Indian stock markets have lost lot of unwanted fat in last 6-8 months.

ICICI bank has also lost considerable amount from its 52 week peak and is currently trading at 839.10 at NSE. It’s 52 week high is 1279. Indian long term growth story is still intact and the biggest beneficiary of that growth would be Indian Banks, especially bigger banks. ICICI bank is in a very good position to take advantage of that.

ICICI bank has also gone through lot of changes in last few years. It has taken lot of steps to improve its NPA. Their last quarter results were also in line with the expectations and considering the given scenario, they cannot be considered bad. Currently ICICI bank is in downtrend and if its fall from here which seems to be the case in current market situation, it may slide further in the short run. But it is still a very good company to bet for long term.

∼ Continue Reading ∼

• • •