The two-term CEO’s push for market share has imperilled the bank and his own future. RBI may be running out of patience.
Alarm bells should be ringing in and around Axis Bank right now. The credit-to-deposit ratio of India’s third-largest private bank currently sits at a worrying 93%. This is 13 percentage points higher than the industry average of 79%, and 6 percentage points more than its nearest rival, ICICI Bank. Similarly, the share of unsecured loans in the bank’s retail book has gone up by 5 percentage points in just the last two years. That is not a good place to be in.
Simply put, for every Rs 100 it gets as deposits, Axis Bank has lent out Rs 93, leaving …
Furquan leads the banking coverage at The Morning Context. A business journalist with eight years of experience and a best-selling author, in his earlier stints as a reporter with the Deccan Herald and a columnist at The Banker, he wrote on banking, financial markets and regulatory affairs. He has extensively covered India's debt market crisis, banking crisis and the fall of Yes Bank.
Editor, Banking
furquan@mailtmc.com
Delhi