Tamal Bandyopadhyay

A detailed look at the bad loans problem of the Indian banking sector, and the efforts made to 'clean up' bank balance sheets, rationalize and consolidate the public sector banks by merging the smaller banks with bigger ones, infuse capital from the government to get them able to lend again, and so on. What is not addressed in equal detail is why so many of the largest loans went sour: was it because of loose vetting or appraisal, collusion to siphon off banks' funds, or acts of nature? What is to prevent the new tranches of debts following the old pattern? How are lenders supposed to monitor company managements, which are supposed to hold the expertise and managerial skills? One hopes some author will delve into these aspects.… (mere)