What's in a name? Dena Bank becomes butt of jokes after RBI diktat

Name-dropping

The Reserve Bank of India has directed Dena Bank to stop the issuance of fresh loans amid spiralling of bad loans. The central bank’s diktat has not just resulted in a crash in the state-owned lender’s stock price but has also set off a barrage of jokes on social media. “How ironic: A bank whose name is Dena cannot give loans to anyone,” tweeted a popular fund manager. “The bank is considering a name change to Nahi Dena Bank,” went another tweet. According to Dena Bank’s official website, it derives the name from the Devkaran Nanjee family, which founded it in 1938. The name Dena is an amalgamation of the first few letters of Devkaran and Nanjee.

Politics about markets

While no one would deny the influence of political risk on stock market development, one is surely amazed by the growing penchant of market analysts to explain every market development in the context of political events. A technical analyst described the plunge of the small-cap stocks despite the Sensex climb as the reflection of the anti-incumbency sentiment pervading Karnataka — the state Assembly poll results are expected today — while another ascribed the recent derivative market curbs introduced by the Securities and Exchange Board of India to the political fallout of demonetisation. “Politics has kept our markets on the edge over the last few months and investors are worried about the ramifications of an unexpected election verdict,” said a broker.

‘Dark’ signals

Widespread violence during the panchayat polls in West Bengal on Monday resulted in casualties, even as the voter turnout was a high 73 per cent. Rivals Trinamool Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist) blamed each other for the violence. CPI (M) chief Sitaram Yechury (pictured) said the “corrupt” Trinamool Congress had allowed “communalism to grow” in Bengal and was now “murdering democracy”, with no opposition candidates contesting in 34 per cent of the constituencies. Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien said the CPI (M) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were hand in glove, and that CPI (M) governments in Bengal have had a history of poll-related violence. As Yechury addressed a press conference on the issue at 3.30pm at the CPI (M) headquarters, there was a power cut. Never at a loss for a repartee, Yechury said the signs were those of dark and “ominous” days ahead in Bengal.