Page 5 - A Literary Review / NPAs
P. 5

to  sail  through).  So,  all  in  all,  the  All   of   these   moves   were,   in
                                             entire   hubbub   fizzled   into   being  theory,   diversely   varied   to   cover
                                             yet   another   illustration   of   the  nearly   all   segments   of   the   debt
                                             grandiloquent   legend   of   the  insolvency   cycle,   but   in   practice,
                                             invisible   hand   balancing   the  moot.   As   the   crescendoing
                                             forces   of   order   &   disorder   in  critical   mass   of   the   mounting
                                             counter-acting          balance.   menace   kept   trapezing   through
                                             However,      a      momentary        its   monstrous   climb.   And   at   the
                                             breakthrough   in   a   sea   of   a  heart of it all? Were the twins.
                                             decade-long skirmish should not
                                             be  time  for  a  breather,  or  worser  2.1   Eruptive   Brotherhood:   Evil
                                             yet, holidaying.                   Twining   of   the   Twin   Balance
                                                   Rather,   it’s   a   strikingly  Sheets.
                                             opportune moment ripe for policy
                                             discussion   for   the   long-term           To   illustrate,   let’s   begin   with
                                             sustainable   curtailment   of   this  the metaphor of a winner’s curse,
                                             moat-gator   of   a   pickle.   Afterall,  it   is   a   staple   term   in   auction
                                             this  was  far  from  a  first  rodeo  for  houses,   it’s   when   the   winning
                                             the   banking   system   brushing  bidder   woefully   overbids   the
                                             against   the   Blackbox   that   this  actual   fair   price   of   the   item,
                                             NPA  rabbit  hole  can  be,  and  has  bleeding   himself   dry   making   a
                                             become.  As  far  back  as  the  days  loss   in   the   process   of   “winning”
                                             of   ’91   at   the   inception   of  the  bid.  The  “Twin  Balance  Sheet
                                             economic   liberalizing   when   the  (TBS)”   problem   is   an   economic
                                             NEP   was   soaking   the   deficit   spill  behemoth rather akin to such
                                             of    an   economy     spiralling  a   nutshell   analogy.   TBS   is   when
                                             regressively   in   regression   with  an   economy   faces   a   double
                                             decades      of     delinquently   whammy   of   leveraging   stress   on
                                             decadent  doctrines.  Back  then  is  both  the  crediting  banks’,  as  well
                                             when the first NPA tryst puffed its  as the borrowing firms’ parts. It
                                                          white
                                                                       of
                                                                papers
                                             wings   in   the  Committee.   As   it  the  takes   form   during   booming
 CRISIS TILL THE  their mismanagement.  eleventh  down   to   assets   capital  (CRARs)  the guiding principles of dealing  where  growing   firms   into   overly
                                                                          lay
                                                                                            the
                                                                                periods
                                             Narasimhan
                                                                                        of
                                                                                                economic
                                                                                                           cycle
                     9.3%.
                                                                                        optimistic
                                  further
                                                                                                   extrapolation
                            With
 Indian
          improvements
                                                                                sails
                                             with  the  NPA  riddle,  and  built  the
                                     risk-
                        in
                                  to
 Nevertheless,
 in
 classic




 COWS COME  hour,   a   surprising   seems   the  and   overall   provision   coverage  through   Asset   Reconstruction  leave  stretch,  overextended   order
          weighted
                           ratios
                                                            for
                                                                   settlement
 at
                                                                                giddy debt financing waters that
 right
 fashion,
                                             groundwork
 the
 of
                                                                                      them
                                                                                                           by
                                                                                                              a
 sally
                                                                  Ever
                                                                                                      tall
                                                                                long
 to
                                                                                             facing
                                                                        since
                                             Companies
 rebounding
                                                          (ARCs).
                                                                                                    a
 balance
          ratio  (PCR)  firmly  laying  the  case
                                                                  NPAs
 crack
 its
                                                                        have
                                                                                                         missing
                                             that
                                                   marked
                                                            day,
                                                                                   jeopardized
                                                                                of
                                                                                                      of
 way
          for uncanny optimism
 through
                                                                                               stakes
 HOME,  The age of naysaying   tenterhooks   that   the   the   most  1.2 Saved by the bell?   been   an   identifiable   yet  exorbitant   interest  realized   itself
 banking
                                                                                                              at
                                                                                                   payments
                                                                                the
                                                                                      slightest
                                                                                                     forecasted
 apparatus  was  teetering  on.  Just
                                                                                                of
                                             perpetual headache.
 ordered,
                  Even  so,  the  outlook  stood  far
 as
 doctor
                                                                                            which
                                                                                fluctuation,
 the
 recent
 of
 round
                                                                                                           case,
 the
 NPAs' stopless saga
                                                                                            home
                                                                                                  by
                                                                                hammered
                       A
                             stress-tested
          rainbows.
 Financial   Stability   bi-annual  from   being   all   sunshine   and  2. BACKGROUND  in   the   NPA   crises’   great
 Report
                                                                                                      the
 furnished  by  the  analysts  and  the  simulation   lay   claims   of   a      The bureaucratic outreach into  GFC   wreaking   havoc.   Whilst   the
 actualists  at  RBI  brought  in  good  peaking   GNPA   all   the   way   to   a  the   belly   of   the   beast   has   been  eagerly   investing   banks   strew
 A Literary Analysis, Raghu R. Rathore
 tidings.  With  the  glimmering  silver  13.5%  hike,  with  fringe  prospects  an   anticlimactic,   albeit  loans   en   masse   with   little   regard
 lining   coming   in   the   way   of   a  of  touching  base  with  14.8%  too,  assiduously   active,   story.   From  for   contingencies   self-
 starkly   discernible   drop   in   the  all   in   time   for   fall   2021   by  the   Debt   Recovery   Tribunals,   to  encumbering   themselves   in
 1.   The   air   of   financial   punditry  peaking   disconcertingly   high   at  dreaded  GNPAs,  though  perhaps  September.   At   the   face   of   it,  the   Lok   Adalats,   from   the  vogue  eventually  condensing  into
 across   the   Indian   economic  nearabout   the   9%   mark,   ruffling  in   the   disguise   of   delineated  these   numbers   should   be  SARFAESI  Act  to  the  innumerable  anchored   weights   of   debt
 sphere  is  awash  with  the  sound  of  quite  a  few  feathers.  And  with  a  dispensations.   A   southward  sending   shockwaves   of   austerity  rounds   of   debt   restructuring.  impairment.
 entrenched  dissonance  grumbling  backdrop   of   crippling   recovery-  tending   trend   at   7.5%   of   all  for   regulatory   action.   And  Volley   after   volley   of   minor
 incircles.   Tolling   the   warning   bells  impotence   spiced   further   by   the  SCBs’   averaged   GNPA   ratios  indeed,  RBI  does  stress  the  need  nudges  and  levees  in  the  face  of  2.2   Revelations;   Worse   gets
 for   an   onrushing   debt   typhoon,  pandemic   induced   downturn  strongly   seconds   a   salvaging  for   individual   banks   to   pull   their  a   growing   mountain   of   trouble.  Worser.
 with   the   NPA   circus   at   its  further   putting   a   quasi-kibosh   on  sortie spouting hope  weight  and  their  socks  up  by  the  Finally   forcing   the   need   for   an              A   startling   40%   of   NPA-laden
 forefront.   And   by   the   looks   of   it,  small-scale   repayments,   the  that   the   regulatory   buttress   of  scruff,   and   strategize   capital  entire   rework   of   the   bankruptcy  corporates  of  India  stood  reeling
 the   analytical   histrionics   were   far  writing  looked  set  on  the  wall  for  the   nation’s   framework   stands  provisions   in   a   crucially  mechanism,   almost   from   the  with an Interest Coverage Ratio
 from   misplaced.   With   Gross   NPA  crumbling   crises   in   tow.   Leaving  tenacious   in   the   sea   of   open  executable   manner   (though   RBI  ground  up.  The  product  of  which  (ICR) of less than 1 (ICR being the
 ratios   (stacked   against   total  the   finance   machinery   deep   in  waters.  In  fact,  GNPAs  were  also  backhanded   that   threat   with  was   the   much-celebrated  number   of   times   EBITDA   can
 advances)   bobbing   over   the   high  the   red,   red-faced   in   their  down  190  bips  in  FY2019  -  from  a  their comforting belief that SCBs  Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code  cover   interest   obligations,   <1
 tens of percentage points,  ineptitude and red-handed in   11.2% high - all the way down to  as a whole had enough capital  (IPC) of early 2016.  implying   inability   of   the   gains   to
                                                                                even cover credit repayments!).
 #01      DRAFT VERSION
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