EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. Citi’s decision to withdraw from consumer banking in 13 geographies, including India, and focus instead on corporate/institutional banking, is a lesson in missed opportunities, at least in the case of India. Citi India was the pioneer in consumer banking, in products such as mortgages and credit cards,...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. There are two features worth noting in HDFC Bank’s 4QFY2021 results. The first is the continuing de-emphasis on retail loans. This was visible in the lower retail loan growth and the poor performance of HDB Financial Services, the non-bank finance subsidiary which is bearing the brunt of...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. In a major development, the Securities and the Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has finally instructed listed entities to disclose the audio/video recording of the analyst/institutional investors’ meet and presentations made at such meetings before the next trading day or within 24 hours, whichever is earlier. Written...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. Following in the footsteps of Raghuram Rajan, who during his tenure as Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor accepted the fifth Deutsche Bank award in 2013 for financial economics, Shaktikanta Das, the present RBI governor accepted the Economic Times 2020 award for 'Business Reformer of the Year'....
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. On April 23, 2020, Franklin Templeton India (FTI) took the unprecedented step of winding up its six debt mutual fund schemes. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) then ordered a confidential audit report on this fiasco. Excerpts of the report have now appeared in the...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. A noteworthy feature in the 3QFYGDP estimate is its dubious credibility, as indirectly admitted by the official statistical agency itself. In the 1QFYGDP and 2QFYGDP, while the National Statistical Office (NSO) had acknowledged that, on account of the lockdown, the estimates are “likely to undergo revisions” the...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. The capital markets continue to reward private sector banks with rich valuations, benefitting shareholders. But larger stakeholders such as bank customers are registering a steep increase in complaints to the banks’ ombudsman. For the year July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020, customer complaints (per branch and...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. The stock market has responded euphorically to India’s central government budget for the fiscal year 2021-22 (April-March). The question is: does this indicate that investors anticipate a revival of investment, employment, and GDP growth? Paradoxically, it may not. While investment in the macroeconomic sense may not increase,...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. In a significant event, Deepak Parekh, the non-executive chairman of HDFC, agreed to settle with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in connection with the latter’s investigation of non-compliance with the erstwhile Listing Agreement. Parekh settled the issue by paying Rs 937,500 (US$ 12,727) to...
