ICICI Bank’s Jt MD and CFO,Ms Chanda Kochhar just appeared on CNBC in a call in converstaion with the Anchors…Clearly through all her calmness and reassurances there was an underlying and urgent plea to Depositors and Shareholders and Investors not to Panic and fall prey to the rampant rumour mongering going on
With the Share Price of ICICI Bank already being mauled over the past few weeks and dangerously plunging by an unprecedented 26% today to record a low of Rs 326.70 on BSE and threatening to drop even lower it was absolutely imperative that Depositors and Investors in ICICI Bank needed to know what was happening !
Ms Kochhar defended her bank revealing that it had
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A Balance Sheet Asset Strength of Rs 484000 crs
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A Networth of Rs 47000 crs
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Liquidity of Rs 12000 crs
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No real increase in NPAs…
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An under 10% of Total Assets Exposure in Global Loans…and even some difficult loans were adequately backed by cash and other collaterals
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Adequate Profitability
Ms Kochhar said her forthcoming quarterly results will also reassure everyone on the continued and adequate profitability of the bank
ICICI Bank has since recovered smartly to Rs 370 at 2 pm now
Globally the whole Banking Sector is witnessing A Great Crisis in Confidence and any exposure to troubled and bankrupt corporates and banks and financial houses around the world is played up more than hundred fold as murmurs and rumours grow and spread like wildfire
Clearly ICICI Bank is a victim of this…Ms Kochhar assures us that in the overall context of the size of the Bank it’s troubled exposures are not significant
A few years ago,I recall ex Fed Governor,Alan Greenspan,reassuring the Finance Committee of the Senate that any risk on Mortgage Lending was Low and manageable…What followed is now history which we are living !
Let’s pray that Ms Kochhar’s conviction in the strength of her bank is correct and not misleading and that the bank does not leak any more holes than we are currently aware off