EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. No doubt the stock market has de-rated banking behemoth, State Bank of India (SBI), since its 4QFY19 results, on account of its corporate stressed exposures. Yet we should not overlook a positive feature: the bank’s concerted effort to reduce its net deferred tax assets (DTA) from FY2019,...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. Since 2QFY2019, the stock market has been kind to ICICI Bank. It has rewarded the bank with a consistent rise in the share price and an equally consistent re-rating in its P/BV. With such a strong performance in the share price, the sell-side has bent backwards to...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. The market ignored Axis Bank’s consolidated net loss of Rs 216 mn in 2QFY2020. Though sell-side analysts were not expecting this result, they nevertheless bought the bank’s explanation that this was “one-time” in this “quarter of transition”, as deferred tax assets (DTA), which are intangible assets, were...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. Indusind Bank, once a hot favourite of the market and of institutional investors, is fast losing its lustre. It has fallen by around 21% in the past year, and lost around US$ 1.4 bn for shareholders. But right through this decline, while the market had concerns on...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. On the eve of HDFC Bank’s 2QFY2020 results (October 19, 2019), an analysis of its profitability for the last 5 years reveals that, while its ROA marginally declined as credit costs increased, it was the leveraging of operating costs which compensated to maintain the bank’s excellent profitability....
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 Code, 1860...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. The Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman has announced the slashing of effective corporate tax to 25.17%, inclusive of all cesses and surcharges, effective from April 1, 2019, for domestic companies. Along with other relief measures this will result in a revenue forgone of Rs 1,450 bn (US$ 20.4...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The default by the unlisted Altico Capital India (erstwhile Clearwater Capital Partners India Private Limited), a “Systemically Important Non-Bank Finance Company” owned by marquee foreign shareholders, is a resoundingly loud and clear warning to the capital market on the precarious state of NBFCs and the unreliability of...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. The prestigious Institutional Investor 2019 All-Asia ex-Japan Executive Team Awards have been announced. Remarkably, sell-side analysts selected Jairam Sridharan (Axis Bank) as the ‘Best CFO ’ in the banking category. This should be deeply troubling to the capital market. In effect, these highly experienced analysts are loudly...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. The credit rating agency, ICRA (an affiliate of Moody’s) has finally sacked Naresh Takkar, its chief executive officer (CEO). This appears to be a belated response to pressure from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the capital markets regulator. Earlier, following an anonymous complaint to SEBI, reportedly...
