EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The press statement issued by ICICI Bank based on the enquiry report headed by Justice (Retd.) Srikrishna to investigate the allegations against Chanda Kochhar appears deliberately confusing and convoluted. While it states that Chanda Kochhar was in violation of the bank’s Code of Conduct, on the more serious charge of...
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...
On the one hand, Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) is proudly broadcasting to shareholders its thoughts on the virtues of corporate governance, and how the bank is more than merely conforming to the letter of the law. At the same time, a notice to KMB shareholders seeking approval to re-appoint...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. The sharp fall in index heavyweights as a result of foreign equity outflows resulted in panic amongst investors. Prominent sell-side firms arranged many conference calls with blue-chip and market favourite banks like HDFC Bank in March 2020. Unfortunately, apart from informing the stock exchanges, neither the bank...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. A 6-year profitability analysis of HDFC Bank, India’s most valuable bank, reveals that it has been able to maintain it ROA despite a surge in credit cost for three reasons. Firstly, it has leveraged its overheads to generate more business for the bank, secondly, the lower tax...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.
Problem: You are a leading
sell-side analyst. What do you do when confronted with valuable, authoritative,
and hitherto confidential information about India’s leading banks?
A. Highlight it.
B. Analyse it and publish a research report on it.
C. Pretend it doesn’t exist.
The correct answer, of
course, is C. Pink...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. In a highly reassuring development, Indusind Bank has stated to this writer that its board of directors
“has not considered any proposal to appoint Mr Sobti in any capacity post his retirement as
MD and CEO .”
Stakeholders may recall that at a joint interview to the...
On October 21, 2023, Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) surprised the market by announcing that “the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved the appointment of Ashok Vaswani as the Bank’s next Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer (MD & CEO). This is for a period of three years from date...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. The phenomenal success of HDFC Bank under the stewardship of Aditya Puri, its first CEO, had some unfortunate consequences. It led to a belief that the recipe for achieving a premium valuation was to employ larger-than-life Alpha leaders who promoted an aggressive work culture, imposed long working...
