Banking Sector Reforms In India And Performance Evaluation Of Commercial Banks

The Committee on Financial System (CFS), popularly known as Narasimham Committee, was set up in 1991 to make recommendations for bringing about the necessary reforms in the financial sector. Narasimham Committee appraised and acknowledged the success and progress of Indian banks since the major banks were nationalized on 19 July 1969. Unfortunately, the developments were witnessed only in the field of expansion and spread of bank branches, generation of huge employment and mobilization of savings rather than also in improvement in efficiency. Besides, corruption, fraud, misutilization in public money, outdated technology, and politicization in policy making were found to be major drawbacks in the real progress of the banks. As the banking sector plays an important and crucial role in the economy of a country for its stabilization and balanced growth, major reforms were urgently needed, after 22 years of nationalization, to revive Indian banks. This was not only in the field of profitability, but also in the overall efficiency, viz., better management of non-performing assets (NPAs), satisfying capital requirements, increased cost effectiveness and control, enhanced customer service, improved technology, establishing competitive interest rate, effective man-power planning, introduction of asset-liability management, better productivity, launching new products, and becoming more competent to face the upcoming challenges and competition from foreign as well as private sector banks in the era of globalization and liberalization. The objectives of the study are to examine the need and relevance of reforms in Indian banks, to assess the efficiency and profitability of Indian banks during reforms from different perspectives, to discuss various issues of NPA management in the light of reforms, to measure the performance of the banks of West Bengal during the reforms, to analyse the role of information technology and its relevancy in Indian banks in the era of reforms, and to impart necessary suggestions for the improvement of the efficiency and profitability of Indian banks.

Prior to economic reforms initiated in early 1990s, the banking sector in India suffered from lack of competition, low capital base, inefficiency, and high intermediation costs. The banking industry - dominated by the public sector - was subject to a high degree of financial repression, characterized by administered interest rates and allocated credit. Reforms in India's commercial banking sector had two distinct phases. The first phase of reforms focused mainly on enabling and strengthening measures. The second phase of reforms placed greater emphasis on structural measures and improvement in standards of disclosure and levels of transparency in order to align India's standards with international best practices. Reforms have brought about considerable improvements, as reflected in various parameters relating to capital adequacy, asset quality, profitability, and operational efficiency. Although commercial banks still face the problem of overhang of non-performing assets, high spread, and low profitability in comparison with banks in other emerging market economies, India's reforms - which are examined in this book - have been successful in enhancing the performance of commercial banks in terms of both stability and efficiency parameters.

This book provides a historical evaluation of banking reforms and structural changes in India over the past 25 years. Chapters cover issues in consolidation and restructuring, competition and concentration, performance evaluation in terms of cost efficiency and productivity, profitability, non-performing assets and technology use. The authors use specific regression models to measure the impact of these reforms on bank performance during this period and assess whether or not the consolidation phase is now complete. This volume will be of interest to researchers and academicians interested in the financial history of Indian Banking reforms.

This fascinating and timely work explores in detail the changes in the Indian banking sector over the last 20 years, and puts them into a comparative perspective with the Chinese banking sector. For this purpose, the author develops a detailed indicator-based framework for assessing the liberalization of a banking sector along various process steps based on financial liberalization and transformation studies. The key finding is that while liberalization has improved the sectoral performance, it has so far had no effect on the macro level.

Contents: Venue Capital: Recent Trends in the Liberalization Context, Role of Financial Institutions and Developmental Organizations in Promoting Rural Non-farm Small Enterprises, Challenges for Indian Banking Industry, HRD Practices in Banking Sector: An Analysis, The Balance Sheet of Liberalization: A Study of the Banking Sector, The Menance of Non-performing Assets: Challenges and Remedial Measures, Credit Disbursement by Commercial Banks After Second Generation Reforms, Financial Sector Reforms and Their Impact on Banks, Voluntary Retirement Scheme: Impact on Banking Sector, Emerging Challenges of Electronic Banking, Information Technology in Banks, Relationship Between Stock Prices and Exchange Rates, Corporate Governance: An Overview, Corporate Frauds: A Model for Good Governance, Development of Technical Entrepreneurship, Perspectives of Entrepreneurship Development Role of STEPs, and Innovation and Business Incubators, Management of Human Resource, Human Resource Managers Challenges, Managing Talent: A Market Driven Approach, Hallmarks of High Performing Organizations, India Shining with Human Strategic Strength, Human Resource Management with Specific Case Studies in India, Human Resource Management: Challenges in the New Millennium, Traditional Professional Communities: Their Reorientation, Human Resource Development As Strategic Strength, HRD As A Strategic Power, Developing Human Resource As A Strategic Strength, Transcultural Human Values, Rationalisation: A Competitive Advantage.

​ The goal of this book is to assess the efficacy of India’s financial deregulation programme by analyzing the developments in cost efficiency and total factor productivity growth across different ownership types and size classes in the banking sector over the post-deregulation years. The work also gauges the impact of inclusion or exclusion of a proxy for non-traditional activities on the cost efficiency estimates for Indian banks, and ranking of distinct ownership groups. It also investigates the hitherto neglected aspect of the nature of returns-to-scale in the Indian banking industry. In addition, the work explores the key bank-specific factors that explain the inter-bank variations in efficiency and productivity growth. Overall, the empirical results of this work allow us to ascertain whether the gradualist approach to reforming the banking system in a developing economy like India has yielded the most significant policy goal of achieving efficiency and productivity gains. The authors believe that the findings of this book could give useful policy directions and suggestions to other developing economies that have embarked on a deregulation path or are contemplating doing so.

This Book Primarily Aims At Assessing The Impact Of Banking Sector Reforms On The General Nature Of Functioning And Operating Performance Of Commerical Banks In India. It Is Divided Into Twelve Chapters Covering The Brief Review Of Banking Sector Reforms; Management Of Npas And Capital Adequacy Requirements; Measurement Of Credit, Market And Operational Risks; Implications Of Basel -Ii Indian Banks ; Legal Reforms In Banking Sector; Mergers And Acquisitions In Indian Banking ; Human Resource Management In Public Sector Banks; Payment And Settlement System In India; Flow Of Credit To Agriculture; And Financing Of Small Scale Industries By The Public Sector Banks.

ABOUT THE BOOK Banking sector reforms in India are aimed at induction of best international practices and technological changes for competing globally. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has time and again emphasised transparency, diversification of ownership and strong corporate governance to mitigate the prospects of systemic risks in the banking sector. Banking sector reforms have supported the transition of the Indian economy to a higher growth path, while significantly improving the stability of the financial system. In comparison with the pre-reform period, the Indian banking system today is more stable and efficient. However, the gains of the past decade need to be consolidated, so that these could be translated to drive the institutions, markets and practices into a mature financial system that can meet the challenges of globalisation. The banking system would, therefore, not only need to be stable, but also supportive of still higher levels of planned investments by channelling financial resources more efficiently from surplus to deficit sectors. Competitive pressures as well as prudential regulatory requirements have made banks risk-averse as reflected in their tendency to investment in relatively risk-free gilt instruments. The behaviour and strategies of banking business need changes in favour of risk-taking even while performing core activities. Also, there is a need to ensure long-term finance to support development and growth in the economy, even as restructuring takes place through mergers and universal banking. The present book addresses issues like Basel ? II Accord guidelines, second generation banking sector reforms, cost-benefit and productivity analysis of Indian banks, danger zone banks, privatisation and comparative efficiency of Indian banks and the recent reform measures. Vital statistics regarding the Indian banking sector and the recent Annual Policy Statement, 2008-09 of the RBI has also been discussed. About the author Dr. R.K. Uppal did his M.A. in economics from Punjabi University, Patiala in 1986. Thereafter, he obtained M.Phil. degree from MDU, Rohtak in 1987 and Ph.D. degree from Punjabi University, Patiala in 2003. Specialising in banking and finance, Dr. Uppal has 11 books to his credit and has published 40 research papers on the subject in reputed national and international journals. He has also presented more than 35 research papers in national and international conferences in Hawaii, Indonesia, Finland, Costa Rica, Australia, London and the UK. Presently, he is head of the Department of Economics, DAV College, Malout, Punjab and Principal Investigator of a UGC-financed research project on Indian banking. He is also Director of an ICSSR sponsored major research project on Indian banking.