Markets slipped to day's lows in noon trades on Wednesday, amid profit taking in bank shares after weak economic data raised concerns over credit growth.

At 1:40PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 123 points at 25,574 and the 50-share Nifty was down 38 points at 7,745.

Banking shares are continue reeling under pressure with the country’s largest PSU bank State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank and Bank of India hit their respective 52-week lows.

The CNX PSU Bank index, a gauge of public sector banks, hit a fresh 15-month low on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on the back of weak macro economic data.

NTPC is examining whether to acquire the Sarni thermal power station of a state government company, in Madhya Pradesh's Betul district. NTPC sources said 'due-diligence' is on.

A state government source said, “NTPC already has presence in Madhya Pradesh, as they run one of the largest thermal power stations, the Vindhyachal project. It would be better to hand over the Sarni project to them or run it as a joint venture. Much will depend upon their due-diligence. SBI Caps is doing it.” NTPC would not comment.

Rating agency Fitch today downgraded Punjab National Bank's (PNB) Viability Rating by one notch to 'bb' on the growing risk to the bank's capital position from mounting stock of stressed assets. It warned IDBI Bank about vulnerability to a downgrade due to rise in the stressed asset ratio.

It affirmed the Long Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at "BBB-" for banks including State Bank of India (SBI), PNB, Canara Bank, IDBI Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda and its subsidiary in New Zealand. For Chennai-based India Bank IDR has been affirmed at "BB+". The outlook on IDRs is stable.

Public lender Canara Bank on Monday said the government will infuse equity capital of Rs 947 crore in the bank.

It said the board of the bank at a meeting held on Monday approved the proposal of issuing equity shares on preferential basis to the government in lieu of the capital infusion.

In a move that caught its competitors off guard, HDFC Bank, India’s second-largest private lender, has reduced its base rate, the benchmark to which all other lending rates are linked, by a steep 35 basis points to 9.35 per cent. The new rate, effective Tuesday, is much lower than those of its competitors.

ICICI Bank and State Bank of India (SBI) have a base rate of 9.7 per cent.

Bank credit for State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest private sector lender, and its associates grew at a slower pace compared to peers.

According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, gross bank credit in April-June for SBI and its associates grew 4.6 per cent compared to 11.3 per cent, in the year-ago period.

MUMBAI: The recent 2.5% devaluation of the Chinese currency by its government could turn out to be a blessing in disguise for emerging markets, including India as an overvalued yuan, its currency, was an impediment to growth of several smaller economies, a report by SBI said.

"With the Chinese economy undergoing structural adjustment, the devaluation of the yuan was natural," the report by Soumya Kanti Ghosh, chief economic advisor, SBI noted. "Though this has caused financial turbulence, this might prove to be a blessing in disguise for India in the context of overvalued real effective exchange rate. Some estimates show that yuan was overvalued by more than 25%."

Calcutta, Aug. 25: SBI General Insurance, which had suffered a loss of Rs 105 crore in 2014-15, expects to break even this financial year.

Bhaskar J. Sarma, managing director and chief executive officer of SBI General Insurance, today said the company was targeting a premium collection of Rs 2,400 crore against Rs 1,600 crore last year with an increased focus on health insurance. "We are also expecting to break even this year," he added.

State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest lender, is expecting competition in the banking space to hot up with the introduction of new entities.

The banking landscape is changing with a host of new players looking to start operations. Apart from two new universal banks, 11 payments banks will start operating in India over the next 18 months. In addition, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will announce licences to start small finance banks. Around 70 entities had applied for small finance bank licence.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.