“The move to allow promoters to hold 26% of the paid-up voting equity share capital of the bank seems to be a way of turning the exception allowed to Kotak Mahindra Bank into a policy decision, uniform to all banks,” said independent banking analyst Hemindra Hazari. “In my view, this would undermine the credibility of RBI as it has allowed independent private banks to arm-twist the regulatory body."
Hemindra Hazari’s view of Aditya Puri was highly nuanced: he acknowledged Puri as an exceptionally successful banker, but was consistently sceptical of the “Puri...