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...
Hemindra Hazari 20 March 2017
After the BJP’s decisive victory in the Uttar Pradesh (UP) state elections, alarm bells have started tolling in the capital market.
The primary cause for concern is the BJP’s promise to the UP electorate to waive off all farm loans and provide fresh loans at zero percent interest. Capital market...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. In the last 3 years, studies have revealed the unprecedented acceleration and concentration of profits and economic power accruing at the pinnacle of corporate India. The large corporates have become bigger and the small corporates have fallen further behind. This has happened not only on account of...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. Romesh Sobti, the CEO of Indusind Bank, was recently crowned ‘banker of the year’ by a fawning business media, despite reporting two consecutive years of fudged accounts (FY2016 and FY2017) and putting nearly 8% of the bank’s capital at risk in an ill-advised, unsecured loan to...
Where it has powers, the RBI has refused to use them, even when serious lapses in management are detected.
Former RBI governor Urjit Patel. Credit: Reuters
Hemindra Hazari BANKING 20/MAR/2018
Urjit Patel is normally a very reticent man. So much so that as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor, the individual...
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...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. Despites the paeans of self-praise in annual reports, exposé after exposé by the media reveal the abysmal state of corporate governance in private financial capital. The latest in these revelations by ET Prime is how Yes Bank disbursed a Rs 5.12 bn loan to Oyster Buildwell, an...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. There is a surprising change in the public profiles of the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of India’s first and second largest private sector banks, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. What are the implications?
Both Sashidhar Jagdishan and Sandeep Bakshi stepped into the shoes of high-profile predecessors: the iconic...
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,...
