Axis Bank rallies 230% under Shikha Sharma; markets see exit as positive

Axis Bank rallied 2.4 per cent at Rs 531 on Tuesday in intra-day deals, extending its Monday’s 3.4 per cent gain on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), after Shikha Sharma, the bank’s managing director and chief executive officer (MD & CEO), decided to step down with effect from December 2018.

Sharma took charge as the MD & CEO of the Bank on June 01, 2009, after her stints with ICICI Bank and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance. During her tenure (2009 – 2018), Axis Bank stock has gained around 230 per cent on the BSE, (compounded annual growth rate of 16 per cent) – outperforming the S&P BSE Sensex that moved up 130 per cent during this period, ACE Equity data show. The S&P BSE Bankex – a gauge of banking stocks on the exchange has rallied a tad higher at 240 per cent since then.


Over the past one year, however, the stock has underperformed the market by falling nearly a per cent, as compared to the S&P BSE Bankex and S&P BSE Sensex that have gained nearly 14 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively during this period.