Articles

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. “hush money”: money paid to someone to prevent them from disclosing embarrassing or discreditable information – Concise Oxford English Dictionary HDFC Bank, India’s most valuable bank, has been found to be levying ‘processing fees’ on prospective retail customers...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. While Axis Bank has recovered from its corporate non-performing asset (NPA) crisis, it seems to be in the midst of a management attrition problem, partly explained by significant sackings in FY2020. Staff turnover levels have been steadily rising in the period FY2018 – FY2020 (FY2021...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. Two long serving senior executives of HDFC Bank who headed important business verticals have abruptly quit the bank, reportedly under unusual circumstances. Abhay Aima (Group Head – Private Banking), quit sometime in FY2020, while Ashok Khanna (Group Head – Secured Vehicle Loans) left in early...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. A closer look at Axis Bank’s staff data reveals the alarming mortality rate of new hires in the bank, and provides a glimpse of new hire attrition in the private banking industry in India. This appears to be a symptom of toxic work culture at...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. On September 13, 2019, a court in Udaipur, Rajasthan took cognisance of  charges and issued bailable warrants against Sandeep Bakhshi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), ICICI Bank and other officials of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance (ICICI Pru Life) for criminal conduct under the Indian Penal...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. Recently, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was forced to disclose its confidential inspection reports, called Risk Assessment Reports (RARs), of the State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank for the years FY2013 to FY2015. Shockingly, among the four banks,...

On May 12, 2017, Yes Bank, released its annual report for the year ended March 31, 2017 where the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) mandatory disclosure showed that for the year ended March 31, 2016, the bank’s gross non-performing assets (NPAs) was higher by 5.6x to Rs49.3bn...

By Hemindra Hazari Even on their best days, India’s financial newspapers are watchdogs that rarely bark. For the most part, they prefer not to place large companies under the scanner, let alone try and fix accountability on influential promoters and powerful chief executive officers.

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...

By Hemindra Hazari Even in a season of corporate misgovernance, scams and lack of any CEO-level and board-level accountability, a new leviathan of misgovernance threatens to dwarf the rest. Emerging from the murky depths – where it seems...