Hemindra Hazari
In the run-up to the upcoming Budget, shares on the stock market have rallied, raising hopes of the long delayed revival in private sector capital expenditure and corporate earnings. But against the backdrop of an already slowing economy followed by the ill-conceived, disastrously executed demonetisation, might this be...
Hemindra Hazari
Equity research analysts produce impressive reports, operate complex statistical models, and can talk confidently about the future on the business channels. But the past year has not been kind to the fundamental predictions of most analysts.
In particular, there is a strong inbuilt bias of analysts to remain bullish....
Hemindra Hazari
Money laundering is not alien to Axis Bank. On July 26, 2011, an investigation by the online media firm, Cobrapost, showed officials of both private and government banks soliciting clients for laundering black money. The sting videos revealed these practices to be widespread at Axis Bank . In June...
Hemindra Hazari 27 March 2017
Can half the workforce of rural India be considered “marginal to the economy”? That, it appears, is what Lord Meghnad Desai, eminent economist, Gujarat-born and UK-naturalised Labour life peer and Indian Express columnist, believes.
Desai has had a notable academic career, earning his doctorate at the University of...
By Hemindra Hazari
On January 11, 2019, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a press release informing the public that “by an order dated January 4, 2019 imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 30 million on Citibank N.A. India (the bank) for deficiencies in compliance with the RBI instructions on ‘Fit...
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...
The legal battle concerns the RBI’s instructions to Kotak Mahindra Bank to reduce the promoter holding, and the bank's sharp practices while appearing to comply.
By Hemindra Hazari
MUMBAI, Maharashtra—A royal legal battle has been going on between Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) and the banking regulator, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in...
Hemindra Hazari
There are high hopes that Urjit Patel, the new RBI governor will act to revive bank lending and thereby do his bit for the economy. But that would require him to make the right diagnosis in the first place. The recently released RBI Annual Report at least shows no sign...
Hemindra Hazari 17 February 2017
Historically, India’s net oil subsidy was nothing but a myth after factoring in taxes on petroleum products. But in the last two years, as oil prices declined internationally, the government went further and shifted to an oppressive regime of punitive oil taxes. In earlier years,...
Hemindra Hazari
Everyone knows public sector banks are less profitable, more prone to political influence and have higher ratios of non-performing assets (NPAs) than their private sector counterparts. In contrast, new private sector banks, set up post 1991, are media and stock market darlings. Most analysts tend not to mention...
