PSU Bank Stocks to Watch October 15, 2026: Canara Follow-Through and Expiry Setup

The PSU bank stocks to watch October 15 begin with two lenders that went opposite ways on Wednesday. Canara Bank closed 3.59% higher at ₹124.76 after its September-quarter numbers, while Bank of Baroda dropped 3.96% to ₹229.00 on reports of a $15-billion lawsuit, according to the MarketOwl Nifty PSU Bank constituent table. Caught between them, the Nifty PSU Bank index inched up 0.26% to 8,167.55. That beat the broader market comfortably: the Sensex lost 252 points to 72,782, the Nifty slipped 99 points to 22,623 and the Nifty Bank shed 165 points to 55,316, CNBC-TV18 reported.

Thursday also brings the Sensex weekly expiry. Add to that IDBI Bank’s reaction to the Cabinet clearing its sale to Fairfax, plus Punjab National Bank and Union Bank of India reporting over the next few days. Below we go through where each state-run bank closed, what changed for Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda and IDBI Bank, and which levels and dates count for the session. For the private-bank half of the trade, our Bank Nifty October 15 setup has it covered.

Where the Nifty PSU Bank index stood going into October 15

The index opened at 8,129.65 on October 14, moved between 8,059.80 and 8,215.25, and settled at 8,167.55, up 21 points from 8,146.55, according to Flash Finance’s compilation of NSE index data. Nine of the 12 constituents gained and three fell. Over the past week the index is up 1.0%, but over one month it is down 2.2%. It sits 17.7% below its 52-week high of 9,918.65 and 7.7% above its 52-week low of 7,585.55.

On valuation, the sector looks cheap against its own history. The same NSE-based data has the index P/E at 7.34 versus a five-year average of 8.44, which puts it at the 20th percentile of that stretch. Price-to-book is 1.13 and the dividend yield is 2.57%. A low multiple tells you the sector is cheap relative to its past. It says nothing about when that changes, and earnings growth and interest rates usually do more to drive the next move.

Most of Wednesday’s gain came from mid-sized state banks. State Bank of India, the biggest weight in the index, closed lower, and so did Bank of Baroda. When the heavyweights lag, breadth (how many stocks rose) gives a truer picture of the mood than the index change, and nine advances out of 12 was a fairly solid showing.

PSU bank stocks to watch October 15: where each name closed

The table below has October 14 closing prices and one-day moves for all 12 index constituents, plus where each stock sits against its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, all taken from the MarketOwl constituent screen. The closing prices tally with the Screener.in Nifty PSU Bank list.

Just two names, Punjab National Bank and Bank of Maharashtra, closed above both moving averages. Most of the pack is still under its 200-day average, the line plenty of traders use to judge the long-term trend. Seen that way, Wednesday’s gains were bounces inside a weak trend rather than the start of a fresh uptrend.

Canara Bank: can the results-day pop stick?

Canara Bank’s standalone net profit rose 8.4% year-on-year to ₹5,175 crore in the September quarter, from ₹4,774 crore, Business Standard reported. Net interest income grew 20.4% to ₹11,005 crore. Non-interest income, though, fell 18.2% to ₹5,772 crore, because treasury income collapsed 68.5% to ₹499 crore as bond yields climbed. That held operating profit growth to just 2%, at ₹8,758 crore. Asset quality kept improving: the gross NPA ratio dropped to 1.33% from 1.57% in June and 2.35% a year ago, and the net NPA ratio came down to 0.30%. The full breakdown is in our Canara Bank Q2 results post.

For Thursday, management’s growth commentary matters more than the profit line. Talking to CNBC-TV18, MD and CEO Brajesh Kumar Singh said the bank expects to beat its FY27 credit growth guidance of 11-12%. Advances grew 19.5% year-on-year in the quarter, with retail loans up more than 31% and corporate loans up more than 17%. He said deposit growth was around 11% excluding FCNR-B deposits, the credit-deposit ratio crossed 81% during the quarter, and the bank wants to hold its net interest margin at 2.5-2.6%. He pegged the bank’s exposure to the three calamity-hit states discussed in the interview at around ₹15,000-16,000 crore and called it manageable.

The results-day move was strong but faded a little from the top. The stock touched an intraday high of ₹126.47, roughly 5% above the previous close of ₹120.44, ET Now reported, before closing at ₹124.76, about 1.4% off the high (our calculation). ET Now also pointed out the stock was still down 18.96% year-to-date. That close leaves Canara just under its 50-day average of ₹125.36 and well short of its 200-day average of ₹135.25. The first follow-through test is simple: can it close above the 50-day line and Wednesday’s high?

Canara’s quarter was driven by loans, not bonds. Lending income rose about a fifth while treasury income shrank by more than two-thirds, so the stock’s next move depends on whether deposits can keep pace with loan growth.

Funding is the real worry. Loans are growing faster than deposits, and the credit-deposit ratio is above 81%. If the bank has to pay up for deposits, margins could get squeezed, even with management targeting 2.5-2.6%. Numbers from other state banks over the coming week will tell us whether this gap is a Canara problem or a sector-wide one.

Bank of Baroda: a lawsuit headline versus a steady balance sheet

Bank of Baroda was the index’s weakest stock on Wednesday. The Hindu reported the shares fell 3.47% to ₹229.35 on the BSE after NMC Healthcare founder B R Shetty filed a $15-billion damages suit in the Bombay High Court against the bank and 25 others. The suit asks for $5 billion each in direct and consequential damages from the defendants, another $5 billion from the bank alone for loss of reputation, and 18% annual interest on top. On NSE, the stock ended at ₹229.00, down 3.96%.

The bank’s reply matters. In its exchange statement, quoted by CNBC-TV18, Bank of Baroda said it had not been served with the suit, could not comment on pleadings untested in court, and would defend itself firmly if served. It said it is itself chasing recovery of nearly ₹2,800 crore from Shetty in India and the UAE and has won several decrees against him. It also pointed out that a similar suit Shetty filed in New York was thrown out in July 2024.

The lawsuit lands on a chart that was already weak. CNBC-TV18 said the stock is down 23% so far in 2026. On the MarketOwl screen, it closed about ₹10 under its 50-day average and nearly ₹39 under its 200-day average (our calculation from ₹238.97 and ₹267.87), with a 52-week range-position reading of 2%, so it is sitting near the floor of its one-year range. The business, meanwhile, is still growing. In its early-October quarterly update, Bank of Baroda reported global advances up 18.27% year-on-year to ₹15.12 lakh crore and deposits up 17% to ₹17.51 lakh crore, Upstox reported. On Thursday the question is whether more lawsuit news trickles out, or whether the stock steadies now that the bank has said its piece.

IDBI Bank: the Fairfax deal and the read-across for state-linked lenders

IDBI Bank is not among the 12 Nifty PSU Bank stocks. It has been classified as a private sector bank since January 2019, Business Today noted, though the government and LIC still own most of it. Even so, it will be one of the most watched bank stocks on Thursday. Per the Finance Ministry’s FAQ released through PIB, a Fairfax Financial Holdings subsidiary has been approved as the strategic buyer of a 60.72% stake for about ₹52,878 crore. That stake comes 30.48% from the government and 30.24% from LIC. After the deal, the government keeps 15% and LIC 19%, and both pull their nominees off the board. The benchmark price was ₹75.99 per share, and the ministry said the winning bid came in above it.

That winning bid was ₹81 per share, CNBC-TV18 reported, and the stock closed 8.3% higher at ₹89.85 on NSE on Wednesday. CNBC-TV18 added that more than 14 crore shares traded against a 20-day average of 1.2 crore, and that the ₹81 deal price is a 10% discount to Wednesday’s close. The free float is thin: at the end of June, the government held 45.48% and LIC 49.24%. Fairfax still needs RBI’s fit-and-proper approval, has to make an open offer, and must sort out its roughly 40% stake in CSB Bank, which the approved framework expects to be merged with IDBI Bank within two years.

For PSU bank investors, this deal is mostly a privatisation signal, not a direct earnings trigger. Notice also that the stock already trades above what Fairfax is paying. Anyone chasing the headline on Thursday is really betting on the open offer and on how the free float shifts, not on the deal price.

PNB, Union Bank and SBI: the results calendar and the trend

Punjab National Bank has the best-looking chart in the group. It closed at ₹118.50, above both moving averages, and is up 12.86% over three months on the MarketOwl screen. PNB’s board meets on Friday, October 16, to approve September-quarter results, PSU Connect reported from the bank’s exchange filing. With the stock having already run up into the numbers, Thursday may show whether traders are buying ahead of results or booking profits.

Union Bank of India closed at ₹174.00, a whisker under its 200-day average of ₹174.86. Its board meets on October 19 to consider Q2 FY27 results, according to Flash Finance’s results calendar. Getting back above that 200-day line before results would be a small but useful show of strength.

State Bank of India, the index’s biggest stock, slipped 0.22% to ₹954.90. It is down 4.10% over a month and roughly 6% below its 50-day average of ₹1,013.19 (our calculation). Its relative strength reading of 41.3 on the MarketOwl screen is under the neutral 50 mark, but it is not oversold yet. With SBI dragging its feet, the PSU index leans on the smaller names, and that usually means bigger daily swings.

Bank of India is worth a look on the deposit question too. Its early-October update showed total business up 21.07% to ₹18.91 lakh crore, gross domestic deposits up 23.3% to ₹9 lakh crore and the domestic loan book up 17.7% to ₹7.03 lakh crore, Upstox reported. So its deposits grew faster than its loans, the reverse of Canara’s quarter.

The bigger picture: credit growth and institutional money

Alongside those early-October business updates came a wider note from Goldman Sachs, quoted by Upstox. It estimated aggregate PSU domestic credit growth at about 16% year-on-year, up from 15% the previous quarter, and PSU domestic deposit growth at about 13%, up from about 10%. Goldman also said PSU banks keep losing incremental loan market share to the wider system and that private banks look likely to win share back. In plain terms, state banks are growing, but private lenders may be growing faster. That is why we keep this PSU note separate from the private-bank results story in our Bank Nifty note.

Flows were a mixed bag. Foreign institutional investors sold ₹1,857.44 crore of Indian equities on October 14 while domestic institutions bought ₹2,670.44 crore, CNBC-TV18 reported from exchange data. On Tuesday, FIIs sold ₹1,305.13 crore and DIIs bought ₹2,439.24 crore. These are market-wide numbers, not bank-specific ones, but in both sessions domestic buying more than soaked up the foreign selling.

Sensex expiry day and the Bank Nifty range

CNBC-TV18’s trade setup for October 15 describes a busy Sensex expiry crowded with stock-specific news, and it lists the Fairfax-IDBI deal and its impact on CSB Bank as the first thing traders have to digest. It puts the Nifty’s key support at 22,550 and the first supply zone at 22,750-22,800. On the Nifty Bank, Om Mehra of SAMCO Securities saw fresh call writing at 55,500 and 56,000, with the highest put open interest at 55,000. Sudeep Shah of SBI Securities said a break below the 54,900-54,800 zone could pull the index towards 54,400, while a move past 55,800-55,900 could open up 56,300. Early on Thursday, CNBC-TV18’s live blog said Nifty futures pointed to a negative start after the Nasdaq fell 2% overnight.

On an expiry day crowded with stock-specific news, PSU banks are likely to move on their own news first. Index levels matter mostly as the limits within which those moves play out.

Expiry days tend to exaggerate intraday swings, since traders close or roll options positions as contracts run out. A sharp late move in a PSU bank stock on Thursday could be options positioning rather than any real change in outlook, so we would wait for Friday’s close, and PNB’s results, before reading much into it.

Our Thursday checklist for PSU bank stocks

• Canara Bank: a close above the 50-day average near ₹125.36 and the October 14 high of ₹126.47 would confirm the gain is sticking. A slide back towards ₹120.44 would wipe out the results-day move.
• Bank of Baroda: any fresh news on the Bombay High Court suit, and whether the stock holds around ₹229 after the bank’s statement.
• IDBI Bank: how volumes behave after the 14-crore-share session, and any clarity on the open offer.
• PNB: positioning ahead of Friday’s board meeting. It heads into results above both moving averages.
• Union Bank: whether it can climb back above its 200-day average near ₹174.86 before its October 19 results.
• SBI: whether the index heavyweight starts recovering towards its 50-day average, which the index needs for any broader rally.
• Nifty Bank range: 55,000 put support and 55,500 call writing, per SAMCO, as the backdrop for bank trades on expiry day.

Short version: Canara and PNB have their own reasons to go higher, Bank of Baroda carries a legal overhang and a weak chart, and IDBI Bank is a special situation all of its own. The sector is cheap against its history, yet most of these stocks remain under their 200-day averages. For everything else in Thursday’s market, including index moves and results reactions, keep an eye on our Stock Market Today India hub.