Articles

The gap between Axis Bank’s own portrayal of customer experience and the reality of customer complaints recalls Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Let us begin with Dr Jekyll. The bank claims, in its FY2022 Sustainability Report, that “we...

In the wake of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in the United States of America on March 10, 2023, the United States Federal Reserve (Fed), on April 28, 2023, released its report on the review of the bank’s supervision and regulation. The...

Banks are considered special, but Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) and its high profile founder-CEO, Uday Kotak are extraordinarily special (here and here). Ever since KMB was granted a banking license in 2003, Uday Kotak has been its CEO. As per the Reserve Bank of India’s directive, he...

The fact that the RBI supported the administrator’s actions in the court case indicates that, in all likelihood, it had orally instructed him to proceed. On January 20, 2023, the Bombay high court dealt a body blow to Yes Bank. It set aside the...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. Why is the capital market deliberately overlooking the serious concerns regarding corporate governance in the Kotak Mahindra group? Presumably because the bank has been rewarding shareholders over the years, as well as because of the stature of its founder-CEO, Uday Kotak. The latest issue emerging...

Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) sent the following response to this analyst’s article, “KMB Talks of “Highest Standards of Corporate Governance”, But Avoids Telling Shareholders about Adverse SEBI Orders against Executive Director”  (dated August 3, 2022; it was later released to the general public as well, on grounds...

On the one hand, Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) is proudly broadcasting to shareholders its thoughts on the virtues of corporate governance, and how the bank is more than merely conforming to the letter of the law.   At the same time, a notice to KMB shareholders seeking approval...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. According to the grand theory of capitalism and the free market, competition anoints the customer as king. In the capital market, it is argued that increasing the number of players would improve price discovery, and greater scrutiny of managements’ conduct would discipline them. Thus the...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. On July 19, 2022, based on a police press release, the media reported (here and here) a major theft in the currency chest of the ICICI Bank branch in Dombivali (near Mumbai). Allegedly, an ICICI Bank employee, on the weekend of July 9- 10, 2022,...

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)’s order dated June 30, 2022 indicted not only the senior-most executives of Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund (KMF), but also Kotak Mahindra Trustee Company (KMTC), for failing in its oversight of the asset management company. The matter related to KMF’s...