Banking stocks continue to rally on the bourses, with the market value of the second largest private sector bank - HDFC Bank, crossing the Rs one lakh crore mark today.

HDFC Bank has become the fifteenth overall and third banking scrip to cross the Rs 100,000 crore mark. State Bank of India (Rs 177,344 crore) and ICICI Bank (Rs 111,130 crore) are the other  banking stocks having a place in the elite Rs one lakh crore market capitalization (m-cap) list. The shares of HDFC Bank are trading at their lifetime high of Rs 2,220 on the BSE.

The latest book value of the HDFC Bank is Rs 544 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value (P/B) of the bank is 4.05, compared to 3.01 of Axis Bank and 3.01 of State Bank of India.

Reliance Industries, ONGC, TCS, Infosys Technologies, NTPC, MMTC, ITC, BHEL, Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro, Wipro and NMDC have already crossed the milestone.

However, HDFC Bank’s parent and housing finance company – Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) is at the number seventeen rank, with a m-cap of Rs 92,821 crore, after Indian Oil Corporation which has Rs 94,362 crore in m-cap. The country's largest mortgage lender, HDFC had sub-divided face value of its shares to Rs 2 paid-up from Rs 10 each earlier this week.

Banking stocks were the top gainers, with leading stocks such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India and some PSU banks rising, after most banks raised the lending rates incorporating key interest rate hike by the Reserve Bank of India in July.

The BSE banking index Bankex has outperformed the benchmark index Sensex since July 27, gaining 9% compared to the 2% gain in the Sensex. The RBI had announced its quarterly Monetary Policy on July 27. Most banking stocks are currently trading at their lifetime highs on the bourses.