'The RBI has not allowed any commercial bank to fail in the past three decades.' 'It has always played the role of a matchmaker, but this is the best deal it has stitched,' notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.

'The snakes and ladders game will continue till the consolidation process is complete simply because we don't know how bad the scene is, with some of the banks being merged,' says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.

'The new ceiling will cover around 93 per cent of all deposit accounts, up from 90 per cent earlier,' notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.

'We may bite the bullet and draw up plans for privatisation.' 'If that is done now, the sale of the government stake will fetch money; a delay will see erosion in whatever value is left in these banks,' says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.

'When bankers are hounded by investigative agencies for credit decisions going wrong and defaulters are treated like outcasts, who will borrow money and who will lend?' asks Tamal Bandyopadhyay.

Women dominate Indian banks's clerical and officer rolls, but few make it to the executive office these days, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.

Individual banks should break away from the industry pact and have their own settlements with the unions, recommends Tamal Bandyopadhyay.

It is difficult to say if the banking sector will see the worst behind it by March 2020, warns Tamal Bandyopadhyay.

'The no-rate cut policy and preference to wait for the Budget and clarity on the fiscal front demonstrate RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das is maturing in his new role,' notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.

Fix India's real estate sector. Fix India's public sector banks, advises Tamal Bandyopadhyay.

'It's a toss-up between a fire sale of equity or merger with a strong bank,' points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.

'Clearly, the depositors of cooperative banks need the maximum protection.'

'We can't have the best of both worlds -- large, efficient, world class government-owned banks, doing social banking and making profits. 'Why not set them free from the shackles of such obligations and run them as business units?' says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.

Enjoying the backing of the regulator, Gill has identified the core problems, ring-fenced the banks from "influencers" and is in the process of building a new team. Now, he needs to play a Vikram Pandit for YES Bank, says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.

Tamal Bandyopadhyay details HDFC Bank's digital journey.

The origin of the challenge is the so-called "fresh start" process. Many in the MFI industry apprehend that such a law in India will encourage small unsecured borrowers to default and destroy the credit culture. So, while'Fresh start' is a welcome step as it will free up the debtors from the archaic laws of the colonial era, debtors need handholding and counselling to prevent any misuse, says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.

Tamal Bandyopadhyay offers some unsolicited advice for a government wh,ich came to power, with brute majority and the nation's pragmatic chief money man.

'In their over-enthusiasm to clean up the system, both the banks and the regulator should not forget that the key to the insolvency law is revival of companies -- recovery of bank dues is an offshoot of that,' points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.

Probably in August. We can argue whether RBI is dovishly neutral or neutrally dovish but the telltale signs of at least one more rate cut are strewn all over the policy statement, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.

The RBI wants to include shares and options within the variable salary of the CEOs, proposed to be capped at 200 per cent of their fixed salary; the floor for it is 50 per cent.