SBI overtakes TCS, ICICI Bank in m-cap

MUMBAI: State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday went past Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to become the fourth most-valued company in India. It's also the most valued public sector entity. On Monday, SBI had gone past ICICI Bank's market capitalisation and now it's within touching distance of Bharti Airtel's market cap.

The recent surge in its market cap-11% since Friday, Feb 6 and 20% so far this year-is backed by strong recommendations by banking analysts. More recently, on Saturday it announced record-breaking quarterly numbers for Oct-Dec 2025 that led to re-rating of the stock by some analysts.

At Wednesday's close, SBI had a market cap of Rs 10.9 lakh crore. In comparison, Bharti Airtel's market cap is at Rs 11.5 lakh crore, TCS is at Rs 10.6 lakh crore and ICICI Bank at Rs 10.1 lakh crore, BSE data showed.

The top two slots in terms of market cap in India are with Reliance Industries at Rs 19.8 lakh crore and HDFC Bank at Rs 14.3 lakh crore.

The last time SBI had a higher market cap than TCS's was in Oct 2010, and the last time the lender had a higher market value than ICICI Bank's was in July 2019, ETIG data showed.

After SBI announced its Q3FY26 results, foreign and domestic brokerages together came out with positive statements on the lender and its stock.

Among the leading foreign brokerages, JP Morgan notched up the SBI stock's Sept 2027 target price to Rs 1,250 from Rs 1,220 earlier. On Wednesday, the stock closed at Rs 1,183.

"SBI reported a strong (quarterly numbers) with broad-based beats across key parameters.

"What stood out for us was SBI's ability to deliver industry-leading growth while maintaining margins and an improving asset quality trajectory, which we believe can continue to support the re-rating," analysts at JP Morgan said.

Morgan Stanley, another leading foreign brokerage in India, raised its earnings per share (EPS) estimate for SBI for FY26 by 8% given strong Q3FY26. "Our EPS estimates for FY27/FY28 remain unchanged. We stay (equal weight) given near-full valuations. Key upside catalyst would be better-than-expected revenue growth. Downside risk would be negative surprise on asset quality," the report from Morgan Stanley said. The brokerage continued with its price target at Rs 1,025.

Similar to JP Morgan,Jeffries also is bullish on SBI with the target price at Rs 1,300. The broking house raised its estimates for FY27 and FY28. "SBI stays among our top-picks," it said.

Among the domestic brokerages, IIFL Capital has set a Rs 1,230 price target for SBI while Antique's price target is Rs 1,210.