Research

In a stunning blow to the credibility of Indusind Bank, its board of directors, Ramesh Sobti, chief executive officer and Russell I Parera, auditor and partner, Price Waterhouse, the bank reported that it had mis-reported its accounts for the year ended March 31, 2017. This was its second consecutive...

Reliance Naval Engineering (RNE) will in all likelihood be classified as non-performing by all the concerned banks in the consortium for the quarter ended March 31, 2018. Long facing difficulty meeting its financial obligations, the company finally fell short in the December quarter. In the March quarter, banks in the consortium were unable...

Reliance Naval Engineering (RNE) will in all likelihood be classified as non-performing by all the concerned banks in the consortium for the quarter ended March 31, 2018. Long facing difficulty meeting its financial obligations, the company finally fell short in the December quarter. In the March quarter, banks in the consortium were unable to...

The ICICI Bank Board recently staged a ringing defence of its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chanda Kochhar with a categorical press statement reposing trust in her. Now that statement has blown up in the board’s face. A new exposé has revealed the smoking gun: Kochhar and her family were...

After the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) made clear to the board of Axis Bank that it should reconsider its decision to grant the present Chief Executive Officer (CEO) a fourth term, one would have expected the board to have seen the light. But no, shockingly, the board has...

The shimmering lustre of India’s crown jewel of banking, HDFC Bank, is attributed to its chief executive officer (CEO), Aditya Puri. In a span of nearly 24 years he has taken its market capitalisation to US$ 74.4 bn, easily surpassing State Bank of India, the banking behemoth. The secular...

Retail-focused new private sector banks, the darlings of the capital market, are facing the ire of the banking regulator. Nearly two months after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) compelled HDFC Bank to classify a large account as non-performing, thus qualifying the blue-blooded bank for ‘divergence’ (from RBI findings), comes news that the regulator...

HDFC Bank RBI divergence story shows, the huge number of analysts and journalists deliberately ignored and continue to be oblivious to a story that is staring at them in their face and it is in this void that independent research can flourish and prosper.

True, the field is crowded, and fresh insights are hard to come by. Still, contrary to Douglas Kim’s argument, it’s not mid-caps, but large-caps, that offer profitable subject matter for research. The advantage for the truly independent researcher is that, while the usual corporate doors are quickly shut, there...

It is extremely unfortunate that the regulatory agencies have till date not penalised any senior individual in the banks or the partners in the audit firms responsible for the huge divergence in NPAs in FY2016. The lack of punishment so far raises concerns of ‘regulatory capture’ by the private sector banks.