/
•
•
Context is everything.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
The pandemic seems to have exposed chinks in what was seen as the best banking story this decade
Editor's note: In March 2018, some of India’s largest private sector banks were in the throes of a crisis, coming under increasing fire from the Reserve Bank of India for under-reporting their non-performing assets. The heads of two such banks were under a cloud and the private banking space, after two years of solid performance, seemed to have run into some strong headwinds. It was against this background that Kolkata-headquartered Bandhan Bank listed. It’s listing price of Rs 487 was a 30% premium to the issue price, and in the next three months, the stock rose to Rs 700, returning more than 100% to investors in the company’s initial public offer. It was then touted as a success story of founder Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, a man who had made a name for himself by lending small sums of money to credit-deprived sections of society, largely in the eastern parts of India. His business was so good that though he borrowed money from private and state-owned banks, his margins were better than all of them by a long measure. Bandhan’s net interest margin …
Atanu Chakraborty’s resignation does not appear as damaging as the bank’s response to it. The ‘all is well’ narrative needs an independent audit.
A tumultuous year comes to a close for Indian banks, as they await a revival in borrowing in the new year.
Cutting its decades-old reliance on microfinance loans is the only way the SFB can meet the regulator’s conditions for transitioning to a full-fledged bank
