India's HDFC Bank gets cenbank nod to buy 9.5% stake each in six banks

BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's biggest private lender by market capitalisation, HDFC Bank, said on Tuesday it has received approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to acquire up to a 9.5% stake each in six private lenders.

The approval lets HDFC Bank buy stakes in ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank, Axis Bank, Bandhan Bank and Suryoday Small Finance Bank.

The approval is on behalf of the HDFC Bank group, including its asset management company, life insurance company and others, the company said.

The RBI has also mandated that the group acquire major shareholding within one year in all the banks from the date of the approval, without which it would stand cancelled.

As of Dec. 31, HDFC Asset Management Company held stakes between 2.34%-4.3% in ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank, Axis Bank and Bandhan Bank. The group has no stake in Suryoday Small Finance.

IndusInd, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, all of which reported quarterly results in January, beat profit expectations on the back of strong loan growth.

Axis Bank reported a 3.7% rise in third-quarter profit whereas Yes Bank's net profit more than quadrupled in the October-December period but missed estimates.

Suryoday Small Finance Bank and Bandhan Bank are yet to report results.

(This story has been refiled to correct the day to Tuesday, from Monday, in paragraph 1)

(Reporting by Ashna Teresa Britto in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)