Great Bank Robbery - V. Pattabhi Ram & Sabyasachee Dash (39 of 2023 & 3rd of March)

"The Great Bank Robbery by V. Pattabhi Ram & Sabyasachee Dash is a unique piece of writing where the contents of the book wake up the brains that forgot the biggest scams that happened in India. Using fiction as a weapon, weaving a story with some characters with conflicting central points as actual incidents is fascinating. 

On 24 Dec 2036, the price of a blue-chip stock, the National Bank of Hindustan, crashes after a leak of the forensic auditor's report. This triggers a series of conversations between Lobin Stephen Senior, and his two great-grandchildren. 

This book clearly describes the nuances and complexities of banking, which anybody dealing with economic crimes and banking experts must comprehend. Economic offenses and financial crimes have been prominent in India’s criminal justice system. To avoid forgetting about the 11 frauds, it is essential to understand and document them."

Do you want to know which are the 11 frauds mentioned here? Am sure most of them are the ones you would be interested in knowing more about...get your copy today, it's a very interesting read.... 

The book is divided into three parts:

Part I covers 'Setting the Trap' : The Stephens chat; Moon, Money and Madam; Bank and Barbers; Multiple Balance Sheet Problems; How Banks Make profit and Krishna revises his notes.

Part II covers 'Scamming the Bank' : which covers:

1. Mundha and Nagarwala: Conmen
2. Harshad Mehta: The Pied Piper
3. Ketan Parekh: The Bombay Bull
4. Vijay Mallya: Grounded
5. Anil Ambani: From Hero to Zero
6. IL&FS: Infrastructure Runs into a Roadblock
7. Nirav Modi: Diamonds Aren't Forever
8. DHFL: Mortgage Major's Muddle
9. No to Yes Bank
10. PMC Bank: Uncooperative Banks
11. Lakshmi Vilas Bank: The House of Wealth

Krishna begins his draft. 

Part III covers 'Sleeping at the Wheel?'

Auditors, bank regulators, credit raters, and directors were the A, B, C, and D in the monumental banking mess. 

In short, what has been the role of bankers and of the big daddy, RBI, in the Great Bank Robbery? 

What is the stated role of the credit rating agency? Is it not to assess and rate an instrument regarding the safety of both principal and interest? 

Krishna returns to his notes. 

Getting Bulletproof. 

6 R's for Banks 

He finally gave a six-point action plan.

One, launch a new asset quality review to cover banks and NBFCs (Recognition)

Two, make changes to the IBC to better align incentives (Resolution)

Three, create two executive-led public sector asset restructuring companies aka bad banks' (Resolution)

Four, strengthen oversight, especially of NBFCs (Regulation)

Five, link recapitalization to resolution (Recapitalization)

And six, shrink public sector banking (Reform)

When Subramanian left one year into his second term to pursue his interests in academia, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley complimented his work, saying Subramanian's early diagnosis of the twin balance sheet led to the government outlining higher public investment in the budget. 

. "Often, those who should be in the know are the last ones to know."

Full Book-17Jan2022-Revised - Reviewed this book on 23rd Jan 2022