Ashwani Gujral, a famous technical analyst known for his expertise in the Indian stock market, passed away at the age of 52 on February 28th. He was widely known for his technical analysis in equities, derivatives, and other markets. Gujral was also known for sharing his expertise on media platforms and through his YouTube channel. Just before his passing, he commented on the Adani saga that had recently affected the Indian market. Through his channel, he picked a stock that had exposure in the Adani Group and had been impacted by the US short seller's report in January. He believed that State Bank of India (SBI), with only ₹27,000 crore of exposure to the Adani Group (less than 1%), would be the one stock that would be impacted in the collateral damage. Despite this, Gujral suggested that SBI had a stable margin of safety at the moment due to its collateral and pointed out key factors for investing in the bank, such as its government ownership and profit.
Gujral believed that SBI would not outperform, but he suggested that investors could bet on the bank due to the low chance of stock price manipulation and the limited involvement of Adani's business. Gujral had written many books providing a guide to investors on how to trade in market-related instruments. CreditSights, a division of Fitch Ratings, stated that SBI's substantial general provision reserves buffer of 338 billion rupees or 1% of net loans made its entire loan exposure to the Adani Group quite manageable. In Q3FY23, SBI garnered the highest-ever quarterly net profit of ₹14,205 crore, driven by better margins and net interest income growth. Its asset quality also improved in Q3FY23. As of December 31, 2023, SBI's gross NPA ratio contracted 136 bps YoY to 3.14%, while the net NPA ratio slipped by 57 bps YoY to 0.77%.