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...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. In a surprise capitulation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has relaxed its rules regarding the ceiling on the percentage of shares held by founders of a private bank. But it has carved out this exception for just one bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB), which has been...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. On November 5, 2021, the auspicious day of the Hindu New Year, the Economic Times burst a firecracker of a news story on IndusInd Bank. The story cited whistle blowers (a group of anonymous senior employees), who alleged that the bank’s microfinance subsidiary, Bharat Financial Inclusion (BFIL),...
It is curious that the first step of a reform-minded Chicago-school scholar was to announce a subsidy. Of course, unlike the subsidies that Rajan criticised as chairman of the Committee on Financial Sector Reforms in September 2008, this subsidy would go not to low income sections of the population, but to the banks.
The RBI’s decision on April 26, 2021 to curtail tenures of bank chief executive officers and executive directors may finally lead to Kotak relinquishing his post at the end of 2023.
Had the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) descended, like Moses, from Mount Sinai, perhaps it would have carried two...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. In comparing a company’s stand-alone expenses with its consolidated accounts, it is highly unusual for the consolidated numbers to be lower than the stand-alone numbers. But what has gone unnoticed for some years in HDFC Bank is that its stand-alone ‘other operating expenses’ has been consistently higher...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. Media commentators analysing the tenure (October 7, 2017 to October 6, 2020) of Rajnish Kumar as chairman of the State Bank of India , India’s largest bank by assets, have commented on the sharp decline in gross non-performing assets (GNPAs) in absolute and in percentage terms during...
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...
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...
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...
