The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on May 29, 2024 imposed restrictions on ECL Finance (ECL) and Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction (EARC) for extensive mismanagement, confirming the grave concerns felt by some sections of the financial sector regarding the Edelweiss group for at least a decade. The RBI directed ECL...
For the last 5 years, the capital market in contrast to the Bank Nifty has been signalling a major concern with Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB), with a stagnant share price and a secular de-rating of the bank’s price-to-book value multiple. But it is only now that sell-side analysts and...
The State Bank of India (SBI) is India’s largest bank by assets and the government’s most prestigious bank. Formerly the Imperial Bank of India under British rule, the SBI long remained something of an empire, its chairmen exalted figures ruling over an army of 235,858 employees. Unfortunately, the SBI...
A Kotak family entity, Infina Finance Private Ltd. (Infina), purchased electoral bonds totalling Rs 1.3 billion – which is more than twice the amount disclosed by the State Bank of India (SBI) to the Election Commission of India (ECI) during FY2019 to FY2022.
In FY2020, the company purchased Rs 760...
Ravi Narayanan, the 55-year old Group-Head in-charge of retail branches, retail liabilities and third party products abruptly resigned from Axis Bank on March 13, 2024 because he wished to pursue an “entrepreneurial journey”. He will be relieved on March 22, 2024, to conform to his wish for an early...
Three new developments herald a possible new beginning for Paytm Payments Bank (PPB): The reconstitution of its board of directors, apparently due to pressure from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI); the stepping down of Vijay Shekhar Sharma (51% shareholder of PPB) as part-time chairman and the induction of...
Axis Capital’s structured finance team is proud of its “unblemished track record of ‘No Default’ in any transaction with 100% investor money”. But the underwriting of Rs 2.6 bn of non-convertible debentures (NCD) of Sojo Infotel in March 2021 may result in its inaugural blemish on March 25, 2024,...
Directors’ role on company boards has become more complex and demanding, especially for independent directors. Increasingly they have to monitor and manage diverse stakeholders’ interest, instead of being primarily focused on protecting shareholders‘ interests and expectations. With regard to banks, this was borne out when an independent director of...
On October 21, 2023, Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) surprised the market by announcing that “the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved the appointment of Ashok Vaswani as the Bank’s next Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer (MD & CEO). This is for a period of three years from date...
Private sector banks’ high and sharply rising attrition is in the spotlight, thanks to the mandatory disclosures in banks’ annual and business sustainability reports since FY2023. However, inter-bank comparison may not be an accurate indicator of the attrition in a particular bank, as some large banks use unlisted subsidiaries...
