HDFC Bank share price may be at multi-year lows but its leveraged bets continue to climb

Shares of HDFC Bank Ltd., India’s largest private sector lender, are trading at multi-year lows. The stock gave up all of its recent recovery after its June quarter results, that missed street expectations. However, the leveraged bets on the stock are only going one way – higher.

According to the Margin Trading Facility (MTF) disclosures on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) as of the closing on August 13, 2026, the leveraged positions on HDFC Bank had crossed ₹3,000 crore, becoming the only stock on the MTF book with such an exposure.

The actual figure stood at ₹3,212 crore as of August 13, a growth of 36% from the ₹2,360 crore figure reported as of the close of July 31, 2026. The figure at the end of June, stood at ₹1,790 crore. This shows that the leveraged positions on HDFC Bank have grown nearly 80% between the end of June until mid-August.

What Is Margin Trading Facility?

The Margin Trading Facility (MTF) is a mechanism that allows traders to buy shares on a delivery basis by paying just a fraction of the total cost, with the remaining being funded by your broker as a loan, who charges interest on a daily basis by holding the shares as collateral.

When the stock goes up, the profits multiple considering the lower cost of investment, but losses also multiple in case the stock goes down, and interest costs add further pressure. In case a trader fails to add extra funds if the stock price goes down sharply, the broker may be forced to sell the stock.

HDFC Bank shares are witnessing one of their worst calendar years in terms of share price performance, having already declined 25% so far this year. The stock has delivered positive annual returns for at least the last 10 years straight.

HDFC Bank’s Net Interest Margins (NIMs) fell to a record low during the June quarter, which offset a five-quarter strong loan growth and healthy deposit growth from last year. However, asset quality continued to remain among the best in class.Such has been HDFC Bank’s underperformance that its rival ICICI Bank has fast played catch-up with the stock in terms of market capitalization. While HDFC Bank shares are at multi-year lows, those of ICICI Bank are trading close to record high levels. The gap between the two in terms of market capitalization is now the lowest in a decade.

Shares of HDFC Bank ended little changed last Friday at ₹727. The stock has declined 11% over the last one month.