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How state-run banks were in denial mode on NPAs (Book Review) |
Book: "From Lehmann to
Demonetisation: A Decade of Disruptions, Reforms and Misadventures"; Author: Tamal
Bandyopadhyay; Publisher: Penguin Random House India; Pages: 348; Price: Rs 599
While last year saw three valuable contemporary insights into Indian banking --
two by former Reserve Bank of India Governors and a brilliant short history of
the RBI by economic journalist T.C.A Srinivasa Raghavan -- a gap, from the
perspective of commercial banks in the country, now stands as competently filled
by another journalist, Tamal Bandyopadhyay with "From Lehmann to Demonetization:
A Decade of Disruptions, Reforms and Misadventures".
In writing on banking and finance and about the expansion of private banks,
Bandyopadhyay -- who has earlier written on how Bandhan became a universal bank
and on the Sahara scam -- devotes a part of this book to the historic points of
friction between the government and the RBI. The discussion on political economy
then takes him inevitably to dwell briefly on the single-most disruptive measure
since Independence, of demonetisation, to which the other authors made only
passing references.
The Lehmann in the title refers to the 2008 US financial crisis, the damaging
impact of which the globalised world is slowly still recovering from. Meanwhile,
anti-globalising trends have taken shape on both Atlantic coasts and are
deepening across Europe, while there is a twist to all this with countries like
India and China becoming the vocal votaries of globalisation.
India rode the world economic slowdown unleashed by the collapse of US banks
better than most others, also because of the financial system being insulated by
the RBI, as well as on the strength of the country's macroeconomic fundamentals.
"A cautious and conservative regulator ring-fenced the Indian banks by not
allowing them to take excessive risk," the author notes.
The book begins with a vivid chronological description of the crumbling world of
a young finance professional in Mumbai following the colllapse of Lehmann
Brothers in the US in September 2008.
A collection of columns and interviews that Bandyopadhyay has published in the
Mint, "From Lehmann to Demonetisation" goes to the heart of an issue at the
centre of Indian finance now, but the roots of which go back to the boom period
in the economy during the last decade under United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
rule -- the problem of accumulated non-performing assets (NPAs), or bad loans,
in the Indian banking system that have reached the staggering level of nearly Rs
9 lakh crore. Only the bad loans of state-run banks add up to around Rs 7.5 lakh
crore. NPAs are a major factor in the falling levels of private investment, and
coupled with highly leveraged corporate balance sheets, are holding up higher
growth in the Indian economy.
"Simply put, Indian banks are caught in a vicious cycle: They are not willing to
lend for fear of adding to bad assets; this dents their interest income and
profitability; and that, in turn, further erodes their ability to lend as they
are not able to plough back profits to bolster their capital," Bandyopadhyay
writes.
On the choice of ways to deal with the situation, he says the banks prefer to
restructure loans about to turn bad and not write them off as this would hit
their balance sheets. So a CEO prefers to deal with the issue in a denial mode
and keep making profits till the successor chief executive starts the
"clean-up."
"Ironically, the new CEO too leaves behind the same legacy for his successor
when he retires," which tendency the author likens to the "saas-bahu syndrome"
in the Indian family, where the new bride, on getting older, gives the same
ill-treatment to her daughter-in-law that she had received from her
monther-in-law.
Some public sector banks have been in denial mode on their NPAs till previous
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan "drove the first-of-its-kind asset quality review
(AQR) for these banks", to reveal the true picture on their bad loans. On the
other hand, the regulator has become more "adventurous" about permitting private
banking, which have much lower NPAs. "And then, suddenly we got approval for 23
banks in two years since August 2015 -- two universal banks, 10 small banks and
11 payments banks," Bandyopadhyay writes.
In June last year, the RBI referred 12 accounts, totalling about 25 per cent of
the gross NPAs, for resolution under the new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code
(IBC).
The government has embarked on a two-pronged strategy on bad loans. On the one
hand, it has brought in the IBC which provides for a six-month time-bound
insolvency resolution process. On the other hand, it has approved a Rs 2.11 lakh
crore recapitalisation plan for state-run banks. Rating agency Crisil says banks
will need to take a haircut of up to 60 per cent on their bad loans to resolve
the NPAs. According to the author, besides the massive government
recapitalisation, public sector banks need to raise over Rs 1 lakh crore from
the markets to meet capital requirements.
The second part of "From Lehmann to Demonetisation" contains the profiles of 15
people who "exemplify the transformation of the Indian financial sector in the
past decade". These include regulators, professionals-turned-entrepreneurs,
investment bankers and a fund manager, and provides a glimpse into the personal
side of these "seminal leaders".
A must-read for students of Indian finance, written in a style that the BRICS
Bank Chairman K.V. Kamath describes in the foreword as "witty, pithy, sharp and
tongue-in-check -- all at the same time".
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