MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's banking stocks surged, with the Bank Nifty hitting a record high on hopes of faster reforms in the sector ahead of a two-day industry meet that starts on Friday.
The one-of-a-kind retreat, spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, will include all top bankers to address issues such as consolidation, bad loans, financial inclusion and capital needs.
The Bank Nifty index surged as much as 1.4 percent to a record high of 19,010.60, surpassing the previous peak of 18,923.60 on Dec. 23.
State Bank of India gained 1.1 percent, ICICI Bank added 2.03 percent and HDFC Bank rose 1.3 percent.
(Reporting by Indulal PM; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)