Best of BS Opinion: HDFC Bank must emphatically address all concerns

Hello and welcome to BS Opinion, a wrap of editorials and columns on today's Opinion page

Our first editorial today says HDFC Bank must emphatically address governance concerns after an internal probe reportedly found that it paid about Rs 45 crore to the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation over FY24 and FY25 from marketing expenses marked as “differential interest”. The issue appears to involve the bank promising a higher return to secure bulk deposits, even though RBI rules do not allow banks to negotiate deposit rates. Given that banking rests on trust, the editorial notes, HDFC Bank and the RBI must clarify whether rules were violated, whether this was an isolated case, and what action is being taken to strengthen systems. 

Our second editorial notes that the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-6 shows India has made clear progress on several traditional health indicators, including lower child stunting, higher full immunisation coverage, more institutional deliveries, and wider health insurance coverage. However, it also flags a worrying rise in obesity and diabetes, with nearly one in three women and more than one in four men now overweight or obese. It argues for a holistic health approach: More nutritious PDS food, better diet awareness, front-of-pack food labelling, school fitness programmes, urban designs that encourage physical activity, and stronger screening for non-communicable diseases. 

M S Sriram argues that India’s microfinance model needs to be reimagined because its traditional joint-liability group structure now works only at a modest growth rate. The model, built around women borrowers, group meetings and unsecured loans, helped unlock spare household capacity for small working-capital needs, but was never designed for poverty eradication or larger enterprise finance. Sriram says regional saturation, demonetisation and the pandemic weakened group liability and regular meetings, while borrowers and lenders have both adapted in ways that increase stress. The answer, he notes, is not more credit guarantees for microfinance institutions, but a move towards “meso-finance” for borrowers who need larger, longer-tenor, lower-cost capital, along with stronger savings buffers for poor households. 

Debashis Basu writes that India’s emerging foreign-exchange stress is self-inflicted and reflects delayed reforms. The rupee’s sharp fall has been driven by a widening current account deficit, foreign-portfolio outflows, weak net FDI, negative net exports, liberalised remittance scheme outflows and outward FDI. Basu notes that India is now running deficits on both its current and capital accounts, exposing the economy’s dependence on foreign capital. While the government is reportedly considering steps like reducing long-term capital gains tax and withholding tax for foreign investors, he argues that India should have acted earlier to attract long-term FDI, strengthen exports, reduce import dependence, and avoid policies that discouraged capital inflows. 

In her review of Jill Biden’s View From the East Wing, Alexandra Jacobs notes the memoir is built on small, intimate details rather than political score-settling. The book moves through White House rituals, family meals, security routines, art, staff, gifts and the demolition of the East Wing under Donald Trump, while also addressing the difficult final stretch of Joe Biden’s presidency. Jacobs notes that Biden writes about the disastrous 2024 debate, Hunter Biden’s legal troubles, Kamala Harris’ defeat, and Joe Biden’s later cancer diagnosis with restraint rather than bitterness. The review presents the memoir as a careful attempt to preserve the record of first ladyhood, family strain and public life, without turning into a work of spin.