Bank results season by themselves seems to be a great positive for the Indian dream. With HDFC Bank maintaining Tier I capital of 12.3% and NPLs of 0.3% , their inevitable comparisons to J P Morgan with much the same stats may no longer be tenable for the management to showcase as J P Morgan faces a challenging prognosis from dropping revenues in June 2010. 

Back to Deepak Parekh's legacy, however, Aditya Puri's HDFC Bank surprised the market with an expansion in Net interest Margin of 4.32% despite increased effective tax rate of 32% ( against 29% last quarter). Maintaining a growth trajectory from Q-o-Q com parisons has been shown to be effectively possible by both Axis Bank and HDFC Bank . HDFC Bank continues in the 30% secular growth trjectory defined by Indian companies in the last decade for Year on year comparison remaining one of the few large markets where large quarter on quarter growth figures are even expected especially in the first few quarters after a slow year. Scaling those expectations has been a tough task and the no. 2 and the new no. 3 Axis Bank leave a big challenge on the table for the erstwhile nimble ICICI Bank to surpass on its way to a recovered 2011

However the SBI PNB wars for PSU supremacy and the HDFC Bank and AXIS BANK encroachment on the numero uno in the private sector may well define 2011 and 2012 for Indian Banking. Of course more attention is now showered on the new investment candidates in the infrastructure sector like IDFC and Rural Elec Corporation or even the Power Trading Corporation

HDFC Bank's Operating income run rate of $750 million must have created a definite plan in the Bank for a $1 billion year for the bank especially after having succeeded in keeping the  kingdom's keys with sustainable high net margins and a great Cost to Income ratio of 47.7% bringing with it more news of award winning performance from India's Banking and Finance stars globally.

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